UAVs Lessen Risk, Save Lives
![[CAPT. ARLINDO BASTOS DE MIRANDA NETO/ BAHIA MILITARY POLICE, BRAZIL]](/images/shared/images/2010/07/01/p39-photo01AP.jpg)
[CAPT. ARLINDO BASTOS DE MIRANDA NETO/ BAHIA MILITARY POLICE, BRAZIL]
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are aircraft capable of performing visible air-support activities without risking human lives. The strategic significance of this type of equipment increases in situations where a given force is not capable of obtaining air superiority, thereby avoiding exposure of its pilots to the danger of enemy fire. UAVs are also known as 3D in reference to missions that are “dull, dangerous and dirty.”
The UAV term includes a wide variety of aircraft that may be remotely controlled or may fly according to preprogrammed flight plans. The UAV concept was first utilized during an attack by the Austrian Army on the Italian city of Venice in 1849. On that occasion, balloons were loaded with explosives and launched from the Austrian ship Volcano with the intention that they would quickly pass over the city and explode their cargo.
The technique was also used by the armies of the South and the North during the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) and in World War I (1914-1918). The first unmanned aircrafts were developed immediately after World War I. Their initial objective was to serve as aerial torpedoes or, in today’s terms, cruise missiles.
More recently, technological developments have resulted in new forms of UAVs that are more versatile, lethal and autonomous, such as the American RQ-4A Global Hawk UAV.
Comments
Isabel, why is the technology used for war more lucrative than that used for humanitarian aide?
yomesmo on 05/05/2011 at 12:04PM
If this were used for benevolent ends or for rescue, for example; sending food to conflict zones, to educate or to send medicine to disaster areas. Why is the advancement of technology used for the destruction of mankind, instead of a step forward it is a step backwards.
Isabel on 17/01/2011 at 12:03PM
Very interesting report! I hope it will soon come to Bahia.
Bastos on 26/11/2010 at 07:01AM