Wharton Aerospace & Defense Report

Air Force Commander in Europe Warns of Over-reliance on DronesAugust 13, 2010

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly portrayed as one of the most efficient and powerful weapons in the U.S. Air Force arsenal. They are far less expensive to produce than a fighter jet, remote pilots require far less training, the planes can fly longer, and they provide surveillance as well as lethal force.

But an Air Force general has just tempered that enthusiasm for drones by laying out what he perceives as their weaknesses.

General Roger Brady, the outgoing commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said that UAVs will not be nearly as effective in future wars as they have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an article in Air Force Times.

Brady listed the limitations of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) while praising the strengths of manned jets. “In this debate, the burden of proof, in my opinion, is on the proponents of UAS,” he told a gathering of engineers, military leaders and UAS makers. “We know the advantages and disadvantages of manned aircraft. Technology must deliver, not merely promise to deliver, the same level of competence in UAS that we have learned to place in manned aircraft.”

His biggest criticism is that, in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. has uncontested control of the skies, making it easy for UAVs to patrol the skies. In future wars, he warns, there will be fighting to control airspace. And there, a drone's lack of maneuverability will make them easy targets.

As an example, he noted the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, when 15 of the 17 allied fixed-wing aircraft shot down by Serbian air defense were drones, according to the article. “In contested airspace—a more plausible scenario for future conflicts—today’s UAS would be extremely vulnerable,” he said.

The biggest vulnerability for the UAS, says Brady, is its data link. Most data links are based on commercial technologies and have little central oversight, according to the Air Force Times article. That data link can even be easily hacked with a $30 component from RadioShack. Once the link is broken, the drone does not always make it back to base using its built-in homing technology. Last year, an MQ-9 Reaper flying over Afghanistan lost its link and had to be shot down before it flew into Tajikistan.

“I am increasingly concerned as a combatant commander and as the guy who’s responsible for a significant portion of this link regarding its vulnerability,” he said. “It’s a concern that grows as we move forward in this area of asymmetrical engagement.”