Nov 9, 2013, Pakistan; the blue sky was
momentarily disrupted by a killer with wings, as it moved towards its
target, unnoticed. Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud didn't imagine his
death at the hands of this pinnacle of technology, as he arrived home in his
car. It was too late when the two missiles from the silent killer slammed into
the car, rendering the Pakistani Taliban forces leaderless for some time.
It was just another drone kill for the operators of world renowned US
unmanned aerial drone 'Predator'. For
them, killing was a just a click away. The drone strikes have become so common
in some parts of Afghanistan that it is hardly raising any eyebrows nowadays.
Technology had always dominated the world with displays such as these.
In the field of warfare, technology has paved a new way with the introduction
of drones or unmanned vehicles that are able to perform operations which are
considered difficult by many pilots.
A MQ1- Predator in all
its glory Courtesy:
General Atomics, USA
Drone Series
US Predator can be regarded as a first generation of drone series in
development. Currently the MQ1 Predator UAV system is capable of carrying
Future
developments will add more arsenals to the killer drone (much to pacifist's
worry). Other developments will include stealth technology (though it has
been inducted to some prototype drones, like Lockheed Martin RQ 170 Sentinel
UAVs) and total invisibility (yeah, thatz cool for sure !).
Playing
God !!!
The drone Control
Other
drones being operated around the world include:
IAI Heron - Israel
DRDO
Lakshya - India
UAV Zala - Russia
Guizhou Soar Dragon - China
Dassault Moyen - France
Luna X 2000 - Germany
Ababil - Iran
Drones have been playing major roles in Afghanistan and Pakistan helping US in their 'cleansing' raids in these territories. Though the world condemns the US effort, the technology is praised by everyone. Controlling a flying killer from a 'safe' control station is really a boon to future pilots, if they are called so! The world has seen major improvements in drone development programs everywhere.
Formerly, the drones were intended to do surveillance work. But as needs grew, a new breed of these advanced machines began to roll out of the production floor with offensive weapons attached. And in no time, the military began to exploit its abilities. The features of drones that make them favourable counterparts of human pilots include, high altitude operation, without any need of oxygen, manoeuvring under extreme g’s, point at which a human pilot dozes off, preventing human loss if shot down, to execute any kind of mission without fear of death (a 100% completion rate, under all circumstances). It is not far when fighter pilots will be assigned ground duties and their titles changed to ‘Flight overseer’!
The current technology limits the drone function to remote controlled one. The operators need to trigger weapons via remote control system, instead of giving drone complete control over the decision. But the game is going to change very soon. With the advent of AI systems, the drone will be able to take its own decisions (with some degree of morality, I hope) while pursuing the mission.
In
Fiction
Drones
have become common in fiction; video games and movies. There’s hardly any
future (at least in popular media), without any drones.
Call of
Duty Black Ops 2 (Video game)
COD: BO2
has shown glimpses of our possible future (screw the story, I am talking about
tech!). Future wars will feature human soldiers fighting alongside drones, if
not against them!
Team
Elite
COD: Black Ops 2
Apart
from large drones, the game also features quadraptors with onboard weaponry for
engaging enemies. Though I am still doubtful of its deployment in realtime
scenario, as a quad is an easy target for any gunman, an improved version with good
resilience to gunfire will prove very lethal for enemies.
Oblivion (Movie)
This Tom Cruise starring Sci-Fi movie
has shown both sides; supportive and destructive nature of drones. It showed
how the drone could pose real threat, even to its users, if left unchecked.
Stealth (Movie)
A pretty neat movie telling the tale of
three top combat pilots and their new fourth wingman; a drone named EDI(yeah, like thatz gonna sell!). Director Rob Cohen’s effort shed
light on some of the serious issues regarding the self learning machine, its
morality and decision taking abilities. The drone is depicted as a learning
baby; reflecting what it learns from human colleagues and echoing it, often by
destructive means.
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