Needed: A Strategy for Unmanned Vehicles
By Harlan Ullman
September 2021
Proceedings
Vol. 147/9/1,423
Regarding U.S. defense planning, as Chinese military analysts remind us, Americans too often operate on the basis that technology drives strategy, not the reverse. The Manhattan Project that developed nuclear weapons, the antiballistic missile Strategic Defense Initiative, and stealth aircraft are prominent examples. And, so far, the same observation could apply to unmanned vehicles operating in all domains.
The use of unmanned vehicles dates to World Wars I and II. Pilotless aircraft were employed in both, and German V-1 and V-2 rockets were quite effective and destructive. Japan dispatched unmanned balloons to strike the U.S. West Coast. One started a small forest fire. But that was the extent of the damage.
In Vietnam, unmanned reconnaissance drones were deployed with marginal effect. I recall too many (worrying) hours lingering off the North Vietnamese coast in a Swift Boat waiting to recover one of those drones. In the 1960s, the U.S. Navy relied on DASH—an unmanned Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter that was highly unreliable—to drop torpedoes on enemy submarines. I also recall serving in a destroyer escort that lost control of its DASH and engaged her three-inch guns (with no success) as the unguided drone repeatedly buzzed the ship.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2021/september/needed-strategy-unmanned-vehicles
