By Harry Kazianis
An unmanned combat aircraft system would enhance America’s Pacific posture. Still, we’re unlikely to ever see it.
Over at Defense News, Mark Gunzinger and Bryan Clark, senior fellows at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), make the case that it is time for America to embrace “a stealthy unmanned combat aircraft system (UCAS) that would be able to perform strike and surveillance missions over long ranges, thus greatly increasing our nation’s ability to use carriers to maintain a military presence or fight aggression in multiple regions.” They will get no argument from me. Yet, a number of challenges remain that could stop the project from really, well, taking off (sorry, I had to do it).
But first, the case they make is pretty straightforward. Anyone following the ebbs and flows over how to breakdown the A2/AD battle networks being developed in China and Iran with ever more sophistication would not argue against a fully-developed UCAS. As the authors point out, American carriers have been able to project power and perform vital missions for decades now. With the spread of ever more advanced A2/AD weapons in larger and larger amounts, U.S. carriers will be forced to fight from longer ranges, limiting their effectiveness more and more.
Read the full story at The Diplomat