Drones

The drone designation is very limiting, because it is better to speak drone system today (Unmanned Aircraft System) which includes a set of drones, a controller located on the ground and a system of communication between the two. The history of drones is not new, contrary to what the recent rise of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) could reveal. It is as old as aviation.

Throughout the two world wars, much research has led to the development of the first drones. Among the most famous of that time The "Kettering Bug", developed by the US Army in January 1918 it is considered the first UAV in history. During the period inter-war period, the British produced the DH.82B "Queen Bee", which was used as a target for training purposes. However, most of drones of that era were considered unreliable and very expensive.

Then, the Cold War era was marked by the increased need of the United States and the USSR of permanent surveillance to spy on each other mutually, especially after the Soviet air defense shot down the famous American U-2 spy plane in 1960.However, turning it into the history of drones dates back to the 1982 war between israel and Syria, it was the first time that drones were used in conjunction with aircraft to reconnoiter enemy positions, jam communications and serve as decoys to prevent the loss of human life.

In recent decades, the United States and Israel, recognized as world leaders in drone technology, began to develop a new generation of reconnaissance drones. However, the terrorist attack perpetrated against the International Trade Center in 2001 marked the transition from the capabilities of ISR drones to means deadly against terrorists.

Drones these days come in all shapes, sizes and levels of sophistication. According to the American center “Center for new American Security”, more than 90 countries use drones, of which 10 countries use armed drones. This rampant global proliferation of drones leads us to ask ourselves are drones, the cornerstone of modern conflicts, can replace combat aircraft.

hrough the combination of permanent monitoring and precise aerial attacks, drones continue to present a financial and strategic employment opportunity, and thanks to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the pane of interoperability and self-defense, they are able to supplant the fighter plane.

Drones are now an indispensable tool for the needs intelligence, in an environment that is increasingly complex and hybrid, they can hover over targets for long periods of time and collect massive amounts of data.

Indeed, ISR drones are a basic air component of modern armies offering reliable intelligence and timely monitoring actual military operations. Precise knowledge of positions enemies before battle and the ability to detect their movements are key to implementing the appropriate maneuver plan. However, the information must not only be accurate, but it must must be made available to the commander in time for the taking of decisions. This includes decisions made during battle planning as well as during execution. In the context of modern conflicts, the surveillance of the inaccessible terrain of enemy locations becomes a weapon of dominance as well as direct engagement. As stated by General of the army corps David DEPTULA (drones program manager of USAF): "It's no longer just another form of support for military operations, ISR today is an operation".

In addition, advanced intelligence equipment including have the drones, amply consolidate their preponderance. In this regard, Intelligence technology fits seamlessly into a wide variety of drones, and consists of many systems and sensors allowing image intelligence (IMINT) and signal intelligence (SIGINT). Intelligence imaging is the only discipline that allows the commander to "see the battlefield" in real time as you go the progress of the operation. With their advanced sensor payload electro-optical or infrared, drones can wirelessly transmit live videos and other valuable information directly to decision makers, which provides troops with reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment and real-time geographic data. While Signal intelligence systems collect information from the adversaries' electronic signals. Analysts assess then this raw data from communication systems, radars and weapons systems, and transform them into intelligence usable. The information generated by these systems makes it possible to better understand the actions, capabilities and intentions of our adversaries before that they are not executed.

Finally, the inherent capabilities of drones in the field of intelligence surpass those of manned aircraft. Endurance is a challenge major for manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), given its key role in a wide range of military operations and maintaining a continuous presence on the battlefield that planes cannot reach. The evolution of the role of drones during the Cold War followed a obvious trajectory. Their role in gathering intelligence information in non-permissive military environments was always called upon to increase, despite the sustainable capacities of inhabited platforms such as the SR-71 and the U-2.The problem with these planes was that by flying as fast as they were doing, they required regular refueling, and also that flight time was limited by human endurance (a typical mission of a U-2 lasts twelve hours, so the physiological requirements of the human body are high). Of course, drones are not subject to such limitations. The most convincing example is the Global Hawk, a HALE drone (High Altitude, Long Endurance) capable of flying at altitudes up to 65,000 feet for 24 hours.

Thus, drones are considered a reconnaissance platform essential in an increasingly complex environment given their endurance and sophisticated equipment, without we might as well forget their role in the field of fire.