Logistics Aloft

Since the beginning of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Department of Defense investment in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has exploded almost 700% to just under $4 billion per year in 2009. This expansion was caused by the successful application of UASs primarily in their role as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, but also as ISR/strike platforms because these particular mission sets fit the capabilities of UASs. Going forward with these successes, the Department of Defense (DoD) should assess potential future UAS missions by first determining what particular characteristics of the ISR and ISR/strike missions made them successful as UAS missions and then determining what other missions fit these same characteristics. Emergency and mission-critical, time-sensitive (MCTS), intra-theater logistical resupply fit the characteristics of being advantageous to persistent, efficient, modular systems integrated into a pervasive battle space. Work is currently underway developing UASs to accomplish these missions, but these current applications do not focus on these specific characteristics. Instead a UAS designed specifically as a logistical delivery platform with modular ISR/strike capabilities and long endurance should be developed to fill these missions.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.