October 23, 2021
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles May Be the Key to the Future of Warfare
Success on a future battlefield may very well be determined by which side can use loitering munitions to the greatest effect.
by Charlie Gao
Here's What You Need To Remember: Regardless, loitering munitions are likely to be fielded by more and more militaries in the 2020s given their versatility and effectiveness. Development is speeding up, with innovations like interchangeable warheads on Poland’s Warmate loitering munition and swarm tactics with the U.S. Navy’s LOCUST test drones.
In August 2018, suicide attack drones grabbed headlines when used in an assassination attempt against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Similar drones were used by ISIS in Iraq and Syria to attack coalition and regime forces. While some media outlets have suggested that ISIS has pioneered the use of the “suicide drone,” regular militaries have been using suicide drones for nearly three decades under a different name: Loitering Munitions.
While the loitering munitions fielded by regular militaries are significantly more advanced than the modified drones used by ISIS, the basic concept is the same. An explosive warhead on a flying unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is flown into a target to deliver precision strike effects.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-may-be-key-future-warfare-195322
