The United States Air Force (USAF) will face several difficult choices as it procures unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the near future. Decreasing budgets and increasing UAV costs will significantly impact the Air Force's ability to procure large numbers of "high cost" UAVs. As defense dollars shrink, so will the robustness of the USAF's UAV fleet. In addition, these low density assets will operate in a more lethal battlefield environment brought about by the rapid advancement of dual use technologies and the worldwide proliferation of advanced Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS). Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, future enemy IADS could render "high cost" conventional UAVs, such as the Predator and Global Hawk, unviable from an operational risk perspective. However, technological advances and new operational concepts, such as cooperative behavior and swarming, are expanding the capabilities of micro and small UAVs and providing the Air Force with a low cost solution to this potential problem. In the future, these small unmanned vehicles will perform many missions once reserved for large high cost UAVs. Procured in large numbers and at a fraction of the cost of today's UAVs, micro and small UAVs will be effective force multipliers for the USAF in the future.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
