Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Update

It appears that some new component of warfare technology evolves from every war. Then after the war is over, the contractors try to "civilianize" the extremely high-cost technology to make it useable and affordable by the nonmilitary market. Much of that technology eventually trickles down to law enforcement. I've noted this in my August 23, 2005, post entitled Trickle-Down Technology for Public Safety.

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) seem to offer the most likely transition to the civilian environment. UAS can carry an array of sensors and telemetry devices that gather and relay information back to a pilot/operator on the ground. They can operate quieter, less visibly, and with more maneuverability than a manned helicopter. If they go down, smaller unmanned aerial vehicles present less of a threat to people on the ground since there is a smaller mass and the fuel is non-combustible.

An update on UAS use in the military is available in an article entitled Unmanned Aircraft Systems Grow Up in the December 2005 issue of Signal.

For the Department of Defense's discussion of the planning needed to make UAS effective, see the website of the Office of Secretary of Defense UAS Planning Task Force.