Here Come the Robots

From a secret base tucked away in the jungles of Southeast Asia, 20 small, stripped-down jet aircraft are catapulted into the air from the backs of large trucks. As they come within range of enemy radar, the planes take electronic measures to prevent detection. They are spotted by several interceptor aircraft but manage to outmaneuver them. Finally, the minibombers reach their target and unload their explosives with deadly accuracy. Several enemy surface-to-air missiles score hits on the raiders, but not a single pilot is killed, lost or captured. Reason: the mission has been flown entirely by robot aircraft, guided by ground controllers hundreds of miles away.

That scenario may not be as farfetched as it seems. In a recent speech, Air Force Under Secretary John L. MeLucas suggested that "we are on the threshold of utilizing them [remotecontrolled aircraft] for selected missions." Presumably, McLucas was referring to Southeast Asia, the only place where U.S. planes are currently making strikes. His words only hinted at what the Armed Forces Journal calls "the hottest idea" currently being discussed by Pentagon strategists: the creation of a force of flying robots that could ultimately revolutionize aerial and indeed all forms of warfare. Some enthusiastic military thinkers are convinced that robot planes may have even greater impact on strategy than the atomic bomb.

This year the Air Force is spending some $100 million on studies, development and production of the robot aircraft. Called RPVs (Remotely Piloted Vehicles), they can be used for electronic jamming and intelligence missions, reconnaissance flights, bombing and in the distant future even air-to-air combat. Under separate $300,000 contracts, two major drone manufacturers--Teledyne Ryan and Northrop Corp.--recently completed preliminary studies to determine how the Defense Department could create and utilize a robot air force. By the end of the 1970s, in the opinion of some weapons planners, the U.S. might well have more robot bombers in its arsenal than its current inventory of almost 400 B-52s.

A robot air fleet is no technological pipedream. Although the U.S. has long used drones for target practice and spy missions, it is only relatively recently that miniaturized computers, tiny remote-controlled TV cameras, sophisticated laser-guided "smart bombs" and other breakthroughs in electro-optical gear have made RPVs both technologically and economically feasible for combat. The U.S.'s most widely used fighter-bomber, the F-4 Phantom, for example, costs $3.6 million; an RPV capable of the same missions, according to some experts, probably could be built for about $250,000 because the plane would not require such expensive features as ejection seats and life-support systems, which are necessary to ensure the pilot's safety. Even landing gear might be eliminated; there are concepts in which RPVs could be launched by mobile catapult or from the wings of larger mother aircraft-and then be hooked in the air by the mother ship and retrieved as they descend under parachutes.

Despite shortcuts in construction, the RPVs should be long on performance. In a demonstration that showed their potential prowess in one-on-one combat, a modified Firebee target drone, under the control of a "pilot" on the ground, was pitted against a manned Navy Phantom jet. The robot, capable of making turns so sharp that they exert a centrifugal force of 12 Gs --enough to black out pilots--dodged two different types of missiles fired by the Phantom and outmaneuvered it in other ways. Equally impressive shows have been staged in which RPVs are used as bombers. At Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, RPVs with TV cameras in their noses have, under the guidance of armchair pilots, dropped bombs within three feet of their target. They also swooped low enough to score bull's-eyes on mock hillside caves.

Such feats by RPVs, and the fact that they are relatively cheap and do not risk lives, have greatly impressed Pentagon planners; they recently established a joint industry-military panel to look into the possible use of remote-controlled aircraft as front-line observers, shipborne submarine killers and even as kamikaze-type suicide craft. The qualities of the RPV have also impressed --and worried--civilian critics of the military, who feel that the little craft increase the temptation to get involved in limited wars. But the military is looking only at the bright side. Says one high-level planner: "It will be a great day when only machines make war and people make love."

-It can also be used to relay signals to and from the RPVs, thus extending their range.

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