Education, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) recommendations. It
consists of four ideas, five main steps, and several key objectives, whose vision is to
harness increasingly automated, modular, globally connected, and sustainable multimission unmanned systems resulting in a leaner, more adaptable, and efficient air force.
3 The Advantages of UAVs
Due to its strong adaptability, maneuverability, and no risk of life, drones have received
extensive attention in the civil and military fields. Especially in the military field,
UAVs have great advantages in performing reconnaissance and surveillance, ground
attack, communication relay, setting false targets, and electronic interference. As a
substitute for humans to complete the “dull, boring, harsh, dangerous” missions, the
military UAVs have strong adaptability, long battery life, and large load capacity,
which can provide strong support for military operations. On the one hand, it can
realize high-definition coverage reconnaissance and surveillance in the entire airspace
for a long time. On the other hand, it can also perform non-lethal attacks or precise
destruction on target objects according to operational intentions and provide reliable
communication relay and delivery guarantee for combat command [5, 6].
• Low using cost
UAVs do not need to install airborne equipment for pilots such as the cockpit, life
support systems, lifesaving systems, human–computer interaction systems, and so on.
At the same time, since there is no need to carry pilots, drones do not have a limitation
on the size of the body. Therefore, drones can do cheaper than man-machines to
achieve the same performance indicators in theory. In addition, drone operators do not
need to operate on the aircraft in the sky, because the training on the simulator is not
much different from the actual training environment, which can save a lot of training
costs.
• Good stealth performance
Currently, the radar scattering cross-sectional area on the side of manned stealth aircraft
is usually not ideal. One of the largest short plates is the size limitation of the pilot
cockpit, resulting in that the height of the fuselage cannot be lowered too low. However, UAVs are not bothered by this problem. They can be designed with a flatter body
and a thinner wing as needed and can also form a wing-body fusion design that is more
concealed, thereby greatly reducing the radar scattering cross-sectional area on the side
of the fuselage and improving stealth performance.
• Less casualties
For a manned aircraft, its casualties mainly come from two aspects: the usual training
accident caused by unskilled operation or aircraft failure and the casualties caused by
the aircraft being hit by the enemy in wartime. However, for UAVs, whether in
peacetime or in wartime, drone operators can operate the machine remotely from the
ground control station, thus avoiding the military personnel directly in danger. There
are no pilot casualties even if the plane is shot down. In addition, the long-haul
Research on the Development and Application of Unmanned Aerial …
527
consists of four ideas, five main steps, and several key objectives, whose vision is to
harness increasingly automated, modular, globally connected, and sustainable multimission unmanned systems resulting in a leaner, more adaptable, and efficient air force.
3 The Advantages of UAVs
Due to its strong adaptability, maneuverability, and no risk of life, drones have received
extensive attention in the civil and military fields. Especially in the military field,
UAVs have great advantages in performing reconnaissance and surveillance, ground
attack, communication relay, setting false targets, and electronic interference. As a
substitute for humans to complete the “dull, boring, harsh, dangerous” missions, the
military UAVs have strong adaptability, long battery life, and large load capacity,
which can provide strong support for military operations. On the one hand, it can
realize high-definition coverage reconnaissance and surveillance in the entire airspace
for a long time. On the other hand, it can also perform non-lethal attacks or precise
destruction on target objects according to operational intentions and provide reliable
communication relay and delivery guarantee for combat command [5, 6].
• Low using cost
UAVs do not need to install airborne equipment for pilots such as the cockpit, life
support systems, lifesaving systems, human–computer interaction systems, and so on.
At the same time, since there is no need to carry pilots, drones do not have a limitation
on the size of the body. Therefore, drones can do cheaper than man-machines to
achieve the same performance indicators in theory. In addition, drone operators do not
need to operate on the aircraft in the sky, because the training on the simulator is not
much different from the actual training environment, which can save a lot of training
costs.
• Good stealth performance
Currently, the radar scattering cross-sectional area on the side of manned stealth aircraft
is usually not ideal. One of the largest short plates is the size limitation of the pilot
cockpit, resulting in that the height of the fuselage cannot be lowered too low. However, UAVs are not bothered by this problem. They can be designed with a flatter body
and a thinner wing as needed and can also form a wing-body fusion design that is more
concealed, thereby greatly reducing the radar scattering cross-sectional area on the side
of the fuselage and improving stealth performance.
• Less casualties
For a manned aircraft, its casualties mainly come from two aspects: the usual training
accident caused by unskilled operation or aircraft failure and the casualties caused by
the aircraft being hit by the enemy in wartime. However, for UAVs, whether in
peacetime or in wartime, drone operators can operate the machine remotely from the
ground control station, thus avoiding the military personnel directly in danger. There
are no pilot casualties even if the plane is shot down. In addition, the long-haul
Research on the Development and Application of Unmanned Aerial …
527