Uavs in Combat

While the concept of unmanned aerial systems in combat has come a long way, there is room for further innovation to enhance operational capabilities, lethality and survivability of UCAVs.

- Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (RETD)

It was durIng world War II that the Germans truly demonstrated for the first time ever the concept of the employment of a remotely piloted aerial platform as a weapon to attack and destroy a vital target on the ground. Called the FX1400 and also known by the name Fritz X, this aerial platform was actually a radio controlled bomb weighing 2, 300 kg with design features that made it capable of gliding like a fixed-wing flying machine. Also referred to as the “Glide Bomb”, the FX1400 was designed by the Germans to be released from a bomber aircraft of the Luftwaffe that would be operating at an altitude so as to be well outside the range of the anti-aircraft guns of the Allied forces firing from the ground or from ships at sea.

After release from the bomber aircraft, the FX1400 would enter its glide path and be steered to the intended target by the operator by means of a radio link, from onboard the mother aircraft. It was necessary for the operator onboard the mother aircraft to remain in visual contact with both the glide bomb and the target which would generally be a cruiser or a battle ship at sea. With the help of the radio link, the operator could exercise the facility to alter the glide path of the FX1400 in the event the target was carrying out any evasive manoeuvres.

UNMANNED COMBAT AERIAL VEHICLE (UCAV) 

While the origins of the modern UCAV is said to lie in the German FX1400, the period after World War II witnessed practically no further development of this novel concept. After World War II, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were used primarily as targets for training of personnel in firing of surface based artillery or machine guns fitted on fighter or bomber aircraft.