Drone makers seek out new drivers. Almost a century after the first pilot-less plane was test launched from the back of a truck in the English village of Upavon, unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV), or drones, are smarter, more lethal ... and seeking new growth drivers. A leaner U.S. defence budget means there will be less scope for big defence programs, but drone makers are betting that a focus on intelligence gathering and risking fewer lives in combat will keep the market growing.
“There’s a very large unmanned need for information gathering and communication relay,” said Tim Conver, Chief Executive of AeroVironment Inc., which is a leader in small UAVs with its popular Raven and Puma models. “We are committed to creating a business as a stratosphere satellite,” Mr. Conver told Reuters. Global spending on drones is forecast to nearly double in the next decade, growing to $11.3-billion a year – and suggesting a near-$95-billion market over the next 10 years, according to industry research firm Teal Group.
Obama in Yemen: Killing Civilians, Bolstering Dictatorship, and Bombing in Secret. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has published a must-read interview with Yemeni-American journalist Hakim Almasmari, “a reporter for CNN and editor of the Yemen Post.” Hakim is on the ground in Yemen and says that civilian casualties are systematically under-reported, that recently-installed US client General Hadi is making deals with al-Qaeda, that the US is increasingly making Yemen even more of a dictatorship, and that drone strikes are not the only kind of airstrikes taking place in Yemen. “Civilian casualties are almost never reported,” he said.
“The only time when they are reported is when independent sources confirm the news to me and the government officially acknowledges those civilian casualties. But most of the time they are never reported, only when the government is forced to report it.” A few days ago NPR published a story containing interviews of civilians in Yemen who have survived US drone strikes, some severely injured.
Ten years since first deadly drone strike, industry gathers in London. The number of armed drones in operation has risen dramatically over the past decade. The Bureau gains exclusive access to a drone trade fair in central London – and speaks with the protestors outside. Retired Major General Kenneth Israel had little time for the dozen or so anti-drone campaigners shivering outside a central London hotel.
Where, he asked, were the campaigns against weapons maiming allied soldiers daily? ‘What is the morality in indiscriminately using an Improvised Explosive Device? The unmanned system with a weapon is as moral as an IED being implemented in an area where you know civilians are going to be innocently asked to give their lives.Major General Kenneth Israel A former US under-secretary of defense, Israel is now a vice-president of arms company Lockheed Martin, where he handles covert projects.
Ten years earlier and almost to the day, the first known lethal drone strike took place, in Afghanistan. He is more forthcoming in his scheduled talk. Source: Drone Wars UK. How the Drone Warfare Industry Took Over Our Congress. November 30, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. At the Unmanned Systems Fair on September 21, the latest drone technology was on display. The drone fair, which took place in the lobby of the Rayburn House Office Building, also displayed the easy mix of government and business.
Also on exhibit was the kind of bipartisan unity often seen when Democrats and Republicans rally around security and federal pork. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., and Henry Cuellar, D-Tex., co-chairs of the Unmanned Systems Caucus, welcomed the drone industry and its supporters to Capitol Hill. The drone caucus, which has more than 50 members, cosponsored the drone fete with the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry group that brings together the leading drone manufacturers.
Buck McKeon, who also sits on the House Armed Services Committee, thanked the industry for its support of “our warfighters.” Welcome to the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus Website. Will U.S. Lose its Drone Edge? | Flashpoints. The U.S. has traditionally dominated the use of unmanned drones. But will rising powers be able to blunt its edge? A decade after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency flew its first armed Predator drones over Afghanistan, the consensus view is that the U.S. military and intelligence community have achieved a lasting near-monopoly on robotic warfare.
The Pentagon and CIA operate the vast majority of the world’s armed Remotely-Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and sponsor most of the cutting-edge research and development for new drones. But that could change, according to two experts who hold outside views. They say increasingly sophisticated foreign armies – for example the Chinese People’s Liberation Army – could render U.S. drones useless in future high-intensity conflicts. Today’s Predator and Reaper drones are slow and vulnerable compared to traditional, manned jet fighters.
The Pentagon shares Laird’s concern, although not his fatalism. But could they defeat enemy drones?