Wannes Verstraete
The deployment of unmanned systems in recent years has changed the nature of warfare in multiple ways. Subsequently, considering Belgium’s budgetary context, the personnel constraints that the armed forces face, the limitations of the traditional defence industry, and the turbulent geopolitical situation, it may be advantageous to look for innovative, asymmetric, and disruptive solutions such as unmanned systems. While drones should not be considered ‘super weapons’ and fully autonomous, unmanned warfare may not be for the near future, the Belgian armed forces should embrace manned-unmanned cooperation to be ready for tomorrow’s battlefield. Nevertheless, the Belgian parliamentary debate on arming unmanned aerial systems has not yet been settled. As a result, the next government will need to decide to arm unmanned systems and start exploring the possibilities these systems can provide.
Types of Unmanned Systems
Drones or unmanned systems come in a variety of types. A first distinction can be made based on the warfighting domain, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), and Unmanned Space Vehicles (USV). A second distinction is the difference between unmanned systems that are used on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. This distinction entails often a third difference in range as smaller drones cannot conduct long-range missions. FPV (First Person View) drones, for example, have usually a short range. Some of the smallest drones are called nano- or micro-UAVs. Bigger drones can be categorised as medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAVs or high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAVs (similar variances based on range can also be found in other warfighting domains).
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