National Defense > Blog > Posts > Drone Wars: U.S. Aircraft Need Smaller, More Precise Weapons

4/22/2010

Drone Wars: U.S. Aircraft Need Smaller, More Precise Weapons
The U.S. military in recent years has escalated a "drone war" against Taliban and al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nearly 1,000 people have been killed over the past two years, according to media reports.

The ascendancy of pilotless aircraft as crucial weapons in the U.S. arsenal has prompted weapon developers at the Pentagon to begin thinking about new ways to employ the aircraft. Of particular interest is to be able to equip aircraft with smaller, more precise weapons that would be capable of taking out specific targets, including a single person. Although current weapons can accurately target buildings or vehicles, they are are too destructive to be used in urban warfare, where civilians and enemy combatants are in close proximity.

Strikes by armed drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan have unintentionally killed and injured civilian bystanders. The growth in those numbers in recent months fueled a political uproar, and the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, last year restricted the number of airstrikes in the country to help cut down civilian casualties.  

One way to ensure that fewer civilians are harmed is to use less harmful weapons, officials said.

“Generally what this means is a smaller but more precise ‘boom,’” said Dyke Weatherington, deputy director for unmanned warfare in the office of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
 
Speaking to defense contractors at a Precision Strike Association conference in Springfield, Va., Weatherington said that he expects the demand for small precision weapons to grow.

The Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper carries a mix of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II bombs and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The MQ-1 Predator can carry two laser-guided Hellfire missiles while the Army’s Sky Warrior, a Predator-based aircraft, can carry four. Launched from both manned and unmanned aircraft, these GPS- and laser-guided munitions can hit targets through the open windows of buildings.  

But the Pentagon is testing smaller weapons that can achieve a hit with less damage to noncombatants. The Defense Department also is seeking munitions that can strike people but not kill.

“Destroying the target, whatever that is, may not be the best solution set for DOD, either politically or from a military perspective,” Weatherington said. “For example, if I have three guys planting improvised explosive devices by the side of the road, if I blow them up, I can’t interrogate them. I can’t find out who the bomb maker was … If I can potentially disable them so I can go pick them up and interrogate them, then that may be more politically advantageous. It also may be more militarily advantageous.”

For unmanned aircraft to accurately strike targets ranging from high-ranking al-Qaida leaders to an insurgent burying a roadside bomb will require a more diverse arsenal, Weatherington said. “You’re going to see smaller weapons. You’re going to see more precise weapons, and I think increasingly you’re going to see capabilities that don’t fit in the traditional weapons category,” he said. The munitions would need to have warheads that weigh less than 10 pounds. Another option are non-lethal rounds.

Tim Owings, the Army’s deputy project manager of unmanned aircraft, said the Army is considering buying a 2.75-inch diameter laser-guided rocket that would be launched from Shadows or Sky Warrior unmanned aircraft.

Weatherington said many options are being studied. “We’ll achieve an effect. That effect just may not come with a boom."
Posted at 10:39 AM by Grace Jean | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (1)

Comments

Re: Drone Wars: U.S. Aircraft Need Smaller, More Precise Weapons

what data is there to support the claim that it is "smaller but more precise" weapons that are "less harmful" to civilians when they are being used "in urban warfare, where civilians and enemy combatants are in close proximity"?

what are "smaller" weapons? what is meant by "non-lethal rounds"?
butterzopf at 4/23/2010 10:47 AM

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