by xe

Created on: April 15, 2009

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, or UCAV's, are in use today as ground-attack aircraft. Predator UAV's equipped with Hellfire missiles are well-documented as operational ground-pounding platforms in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we expand the conversation to include 'jet fighters' we then include not only "ground-pounders" but air-to-air combat platforms as well. The acronym UFA (for Unmanned Fighter Aircraft) is being used to designate this type of mission-dedicated aircraft, although the term UCAV is still widely used.

DARPA (the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been funding development of the X-45 and other aircraft as this type of platform for at least eight years or so, and there are various derivative versions flying regularly. Aerial combat evolved in the years since the first Desert Storm conflict as beyond-line-if-sight radar and missile combat, and the UCAV or UFA should be as well or better-suited for this type of engagement than a manned aircraft. Today's electronic systems are capable of locating and identifying aircraft at remarkable distances, and can react with deadly force once hostile intent is confirmed. If an identified hostile aircraft continues on a course which is confirmed to present risk, a manned or unmanned aircraft can select from a number of missile platforms and eliminate that threat accurately and decisively.

Actual visual contact air-to-air combat is of course always an option, and in order to exercise air superiority and rule the sky over a ground conflift our air assets must be equipped and prepared for that situation. One factor which has imposed limits on the fighter pilot since at least the Viet Nam war is the capability of the human body to absorb the effects of abrupt changes in direction at high speeds. The US has developed sophisticated G-Suits which limit the pooling of blood in the legs and contributes to reduce pilot brown- and blackout, and reclining seating positions which to an extent help in that regard. The Russians accomplished similar results through an intense fitness regimen which allows their pilots to resist these forces through muscle contractions, etc.

Still, G-forces over an extended period of time can affect the tactics of the pilot engaged in a close-quarters fur-ball (dog-fight) or when trying to evade a rapidly approaching missile, be it air- or ground-launched. By converting to unmanned platforms, not only can the aircraft be exposed without concern for the extended G-load period

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