In recent years, the world has witnessed a robust development of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). They have come under different types, multi-roles and been effectively exploited in military conflicts. This is a landmark development, changing the characteristics of war both in terms of military strategy, combat doctrine and combat operations.
Increase in equipment and deployment
UCAV has become increasingly popular in combat service of many countries, especially those with economic and military strength. The growth in the number and scale of use of UCAV is mainly due to its ability to replace manned fighters in a variety of combat missions, minimise the pilot losses, as well as reduce the manufacturing and operation costs. At the same time, it has a number of other advantages, such as: low radar cross-section, long combat range, high manoeuvrability, subsonic flight speed, modular structure, better payload, and changability for modification and upgradation, etc.
Currently, there have been about 56 types of UCAV in service in the militaries of more than 90 countries, of which 11 countries have used them in real combat. The US is arguably the world's largest producer of UCAV. After the September 11th terrorist attack, the U.S. used UCAV MQ-1 Predator to strike targets in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Recently, the US Air Force has replaced the MQ-1 Predator with UCAV MQ-9 Reaper. Distinctive design features of the MQ-9 Reaper include: modern avionics, new weapons, and an open design that can bear future innovations. The US Air Force has used the MQ-9 Reaper for air strikes in combat operations globally for more than a decade. The US only exports UCAVs to NATO members, but in 2018, it agreed to sell them to India - the first non-NATO country to acquire U.S. UCAVs.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel is the world's largest exporter of combat drones, accounting for 44 percent globally. In particular, the Heron UCAV of the Israel Aviation Industry Corporation is world-famous for its reconnaissance and strike capabilities, using precision-guided weapons, designed to compete with the U.S. UCAV MQ-9 Reapers. Along with this trend, China is increasingly exporting its UCAVs. In 2015, Pakistan, Iraq, and Nigeria used Chinese-made or co-developed UCAVs for air strikes.
Examining the results of using UCAVs in military conflicts of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, it is easy to see their effectiveness when performing combat missions. In recent years, the US Air Force has used UCAVs more frequently. Specifically, during its operation in Afghanistan (2011 - 2016), the rate of use of air weapons carried by UCAVs rose from 05% to 61%, and in the campaign of the U.S. and its allies against Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq (2014 - 2016), the MQ-1 Predator was used to carry 3,400 high-tech weapons to attack about 1,800 targets.
The new tactics of military strike by UCAVs in conflicts in Syria, Libya and Nagorno - Karabakh have proven its effectiveness. In particular, the successful use of UCAVs on a large scale by Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia in the Nagorno – Karabakh conflict in 2020 is a lesson learnt by countries. In that 44-day military conflict, Azerbaijan mobilised a large number of Turkish and Israeli-made UCAVs not only for reconnaissance and strike against Armenian targets, but also to dominate the battlefield. Thus, in fact, through large-scale military conflicts in the world recently, many countries have developed combat tactics for UCAVs with rich and diversified experience.
Development of new UCAVs
Currently, the military powers are conducting a series of programs to develop new-generation UCAVs, aiming to increase their operational range, intangibility, and ability to carry more weapons and cooperate with manned aircraft in combat missions. The U.S., Russia and China have all successfully developed a new generation of UCAVs with the same size and payload capacity as manned fighters. Currently, these countries are testing the stealth capability, independent flight in autonomous mode and ability to use air-to-ground missiles and precision-guided bombs to break through the long-range air defence system of the adversaries.
The US Air Force is expected to equip a new generation of UCAV with stealth feature, long-range flight, subsonic speed and the capability to load different weapons for ground attack. It can perform a number of tasks and missions, such as: intelligence, reconnaissance, target surveillance, electronic warfare, and target precision strikes at low cost. At the same time, it can operate independently or within a fighter squadron under the command and control of a manned aircraft. Moreover, the US Air Force is researching and developing an automatic combat command system, mounted on unmanned aircraft, applying artificial intelligence technology and modular hardware, which is convenient in engineering maintenance, improvement, and modernisation. This is an ambitious plan of the Pentagon, and it could completely change the combat concept of the US Air Force in the future.
One of those projects is the XQ-58A Valkyrie - a new generation of UCAV of the US Air Force, with low costs in design and operation, but bearing capability to change the situation in the battlefield. The long-range flight and stealth feature design allow the XQ-58A Valkyrie to penetrate enemy’s air defence systems, bypass the anti-access/ area denial (A2/AD) in a large space. It can even perform difficult missions where manned fighters need a more complex tactical formation and aerial refuelling, which makes them very vulnerable to the enemy's long-range air defence system. In addition, the XQ-58A Valkyrie is also equipped with advanced electronic warfare, intelligence, reconnaissance and targeting sensors.
For Russia, the goal of developing a new generation of UCAV is stealthy feature, better weapon payload, supersonic speed and coordinating with 5th generation Su-57 fighters in combat missions. The Russian Ministry of Defence recently released a video showcasing the first flight of Okhotnik alongside Su-57 stealth fighter. Reportedly, the UCAV operated autonomously and interacting with the Su-57 to extend the fighter's radar and locate the targets for airstrikes. Okhotnik means "Hunter", is a fixed-wing UCAV or in Russian terms, "Combat reconnaissance UAV system". Okhotnik is equipped with a variety of air-to-ground weapons and can perform reconnaissance and electronic warfare missions.
Okhotnik can be controlled remotely in combat missions in coordinating with fighters or "fully robotised" to operate autonomously, meaning that instead of a remote control mode it will use artificial intelligence imbedded in the aircraft to flexibly respond to changing situations and perform pre-programmed missions. Thus, Okhotnik will solve the problem of being jammed or hacked when being control remotely. For a long time, Russia has expected a stealthy UCAV which is as powerful as the Okhotnik, and now it has sent a message to observers both at home and abroad that Moscow has the capability to launch a series of stealthy strikes, intruding air defence layers with new UCAVs.
Sharp Sword is a new, stealthy UCAV development program of China, developed by Hongyu Aircraft Industry Corporation. It has stealthy feature and greater payload in comparison with previous UCAVs. Sharp Sword uses a non-afterburning WS-13 turbofan engine with a curving air intake to minimise the signal and adopts a delta wing profile - the wingspan is approximately 10m to 14m length, equivalent to a demonstration of Northrop Grumman's X-47B UAV developed for the US Navy. Sharp Sword has 02 internal bomb bays with the ability to carry 02 tons of weapons. China awarded the award for national scientific and technological progress to the developers of Sharp Sword. Currently, the Sharp Sword is being tested for combat capabilities in the China Liberation Army.
Israel is also developing new generation UCAVs, typically the HermesTM 900, to solve the problem of integrating reconnaissance and precision attack capabilities, but it has not yet invested in stealth technology. Therefore, the HermesTM 900 has a longer flight time, multi-functioned capabilities, is capable of simultaneously performing different tasks and missions, such as: intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and strike. The weapon compartment is inside the aircraft. Moreover, it has another option of hanging weapons under the wings.
Thus, with those developments, the era of unmanned combat aerial vehicle in modern warfare has emerged. This marks the successful application of artificial intelligence, internet of things, etc. in the military field, opening a new breakthrough in the development of weapons and military technical equipment in general, and UCAV in particular. However, besides those achievements, observers also think that this would be a "push" to trigger a new arms race in the field of air warfare in the future, affecting regional and global security, causing deep concern to the international community.
Sr. Col. DANG DONG TIEN, General Department of Technology