Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) or drones, are controlled by a pilot on the ground or are following a programmed mission. They are the future of the nature of warfare. UAV's have two types; attack and surveillance. The attack drones can be programmed or piloted to specifically attack an area or person. Surveillance drones can scan an area from above without endangering ground soldiers. Advantages of drones include them being significantly cheaper than military aircraft and can be flown remotely, thus not putting the flight crew in any danger. The flight crew is made up of 3 people; a 'pilot', sensor and camera operator, and a contact person to communicate with ground troops and commanders.
UAV's were first used in the Balkans War and have now been used in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. The United States and United Kingdom each have their own squadron of surveillance and attack drones at their disposal. Drones have now killed over 200 innocent people, including children, due to the remoteness of the strikes.
Popular drones include the Predator and Reaper, each made by General Atomics. The Predator was first deployed in 1995 and in 2007 the first Reaper was deployed. The Reaper drone has the ability to carry 4 missiles and 2 bombs for attack purposes. New statistics now show that drones cause 10 times more casualties than manned fighter aircraft in Afghanistan, leading people to question the use of UAV's in such populated areas.
Advancement from Trench Warfare
Since Trench Warfare there has been a huge advance in technology involving new manufacturing processes and new mechanics. Soldiers can now be replaced by 'robots' or UAV's, resulting in a much lower death rate than Trench Warfare. New weapons and armor have made trenches futile and able to be easily evaded and destroyed.
Military Generals now understand how ineffective Trench Warfare was and how, with new strategies and tactics, they can avoid the stalemate effect of it and the drastically high mortality rate. The effects of Trench Warfare and the wonderful advancements made since then are why this kind of warfare isn't relied upon in present times.
New Military technology as seen in the
McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II above