Reference News Network September 21 report - According to the UK's The Economist magazine website on September 11, countries are re-designing their carrier air wings to adapt aircraft carriers for modern warfare, gradually replacing manned aircraft with drones. These drones can be developed faster, used more boldly, and fly farther than current jet planes. This may have an impact on naval tactics and even naval culture.
In August this year, the U.S. Navy announced that it had signed contracts with four major defense companies to design a large combat drone called "Loyal Wingman". This drone can take off from an aircraft carrier along with manned aircraft. This month, Turkey plans to deploy armed drones on the amphibious assault ship "Anadolu". In November, the large drone "Mojave" with a payload of 1600 kilograms is expected to take off from South Korea's "Dokdo" amphibious assault ship. France said it plans to equip its future aircraft carriers with small drones by 2038 and large armed drones by 2040. The UK will deploy a "hybrid" fleet of drones and manned aircraft within the next five years. Drones will be responsible for aerial early warning, aerial refueling, and anti-submarine warfare, and will eventually carry out some strike missions.
There are mainly three reasons for removing personnel from the cockpit. First, allowing drones to take over heavy tasks, thus freeing up manned aircraft to focus on tasks that only they can accomplish. Second, allowing drones to take on more risks and bear more losses during wartime. Third, drones can adopt different designs.
Unmanned systems do not need the same level of health and safety review. When it is not necessary to test and certify the plane for months or years every time, frequent upgrades of software and hardware become easier. The weight of pilots and the systems supporting them (such as ejection seats) can be replaced by fuel, thereby extending the range.
The ultimate goal of an aircraft carrier strike group is to strike. The question is how much of this task drones will undertake. Early experiments mainly focused on reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, and logistics, as these tasks are relatively easy to accomplish. However, retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery urged the navy to be bolder: adopt long-range stealth attack drones that can launch weapons at greater operational distances. (Translated by Wang Diqing)
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