Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: The week in review

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Such is the prevalence of headlines relating to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) each week, perhaps we should have a review of the week’s UAV news every Monday. It’s certainly warranted this week at least.

UAV: Unintentionally Advancing Violence

With tensions in the Middle East escalating recently it was reported by Iran’s IRNA news agency that Tehran had shot down an American UAV on a reconnaissance mission. The unmanned vehicle is widely thought to be a RQ170 Sentinel, the same used to scout Osama Bin Laden’s Abbotabad compound prior to and during the mission to capture him in May.

The incident comes just days after the British Embassy in Tehran was overrun by demonstrators in what Foreign Secretary William Hague described as “a grave violation of the Vienna Convention.” It resulted in the removal of all British Embassy staff from Iran and will have “other, further, and serious consequences”, Hague warned.

The incident of the downed UAV, while unlikely to be the catalyst for war, does highlight the increasing and significant role that UAVs have to play not just in warzones, but on the nuanced political battlefields too. Their presence has increased the ISR capabilities of Allied forces in hostile regions, allowing commanders on the ground to understand and navigate areas previously off limits. However, their presence has also increased the likelihood that this intelligence will actually be required, as it may directly lead to conflict. Shooting down a UAV is not an act of war in the same vein as targeting a manned aircraft, but it’s still an aggressive and inflammatory move that will heighten tensions.

Indeed, aside from their ISR role, UAVs will be increasingly used for warfighting purposes, according to Dr. Earl William Powers, a Research Fellow at the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.

“I think you’re going to see a real increase in very small UAVs that are armed, they would almost be like kamikaze weapons, an airborne mortar round that they can identify the enemy, make positive ID and then use those without ever having to worry about coordination or the airspace. They’ll have it with them all the time,” Dr. Powers told Defence IQ in an interview.

UAV: Ubiquitous Acquisitions Viable

On Thursday last week Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ and TASE: ESLT) announced that its subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America LLC, acquired all the holdings in UAS Dynamics LLC, a provider of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to the U.S. market. UAS Dynamics had previously been jointly owned by Elbit and General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products ("GDATP"). UAS Dynamics will become part of Elbit Systems of America's Unmanned Systems business unit, which is responsible for both airborne and seaborne unmanned systems.

Speaking about the acquisition Raanan Horowitz, President and CEO of Elbit Systems of America, stated: "The integration of UAS Dynamics with Elbit Systems of America's Unmanned Systems business unit will enable us to pursue opportunities associated with unmanned technologies and capabilities across multiple domains, and we will continue to look for opportunities to provide U.S. warfighters with innovative solutions that meet their diverse mission needs."

The move will enable Elbit to increase its traction in the U.S. market in the nascent UAV sector. But Elbit isn’t the only firm expecting the UAV market to take off with Embraer, Cassidian and BAE Systems just a handful of other acquisitive companies interested in budding UAV technologies.

UAV: United And Virtuous

Last Monday Germany's junior Defense Minister Stéphane Beelemans said in an interview with La Tribune that Germany and France should pool resources for a joint UAV development programme. There are currently two competing projects: the EADS sponsored MALE Talarion UAV for France, Germany and Spain, and the joint BAE-Dassault Telemos vehicle for the UK and France.

“I say it clearly in France and Germany to our companies. I don't believe in two projects of this scale at the European level. And I find it hard to believe there is the political will to realize two competing projects. There is enough political will to do a common project," Beelemans said.

The idea of multilateral cooperation on defence projects is becoming an increasingly attractive one for many governments stumbling through the financial mire. Last week the European Defence Agency (EDA) released the figures for 2010 spending, revealing that a total of €194 billion (£167 billion) was spent by European nations, or 1.6% of GDP.

Jonathan Dowdall explained in an article last week that cooperation between European nations on defence spending was at an all-time high. “Multilateral equipment procurement in 2010 was the highest on record: constituting €7.5 billion worth of investment. At 22% of all procurement spending, this creeping trend may just prove that sharing equipment resources is not such a long-term goal afterall. It is happening now and, if the upward trend continues, we could see a quarter of all European procurement being collaborative in the coming years.”

The U.S. government ring-fenced budget cuts on UAVs in a clear sign of their value to military and even civilian operations. While other technology programmes may fall by the wayside as austerity measures hit European states, it’s highly likely that spending on UAVs will become a shared, rather than shunned, responsibility.

Contributor:   Andrew Elwell

Andrew graduated from The University of Nottingham with an MA in History in 2003. After graduating Andrew started his career with a niche armour systems manufacturer, which provided ballisitic and blast armour products for the international defence market. His first major undertaking was to project manage a UOR up-armour programme for an in-theatre MoD vehicle. After completion of the contract, Andrew headed up the research and development department at the company. This involved designing, developing, testing and presenting new armour solutions to defeat customer specific threats to all major European and International ballistic and blast standards.

Following this Andrew moved behind the desk and became Senior Editor at a news and data provider, offering proprietary analysis, intelligence, market research and data on the global security and defence industry. The role offered the chance to write widely on the industry, exploring new technologies and getting to grips with corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity fundraisings.

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