Unmanned aircraft systems roadmap

Unmanned aircraft (UA), which once played a reconnaissance-only role, now participates in strike, force protection, and signals collection, and, in doing so, has helped reduce the complexity and time lag in the sensor-to-shooter chain for acting on "actionable intelligence." These diverse systems ... range in capability from Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) weighing less than one pound to aircraft weighing over 40,000 pounds. UA, and unmanned systems in general, are changing the conduct of military operations in the Global War on Terror by providing unrelenting pursuit without offering the terrorist a high value target or a potential captive.