On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:44:39 -0500, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:

In the case of Dragoneye, I noted earlier that it will not be lugging any
ordnance. The initial use of UAV's in the Stryker BCT's will undoubtedly be
purely for ISR purposes, but I would not rule out the future development of
some sort of limited strike role (perhaps dropping submunitions in the
Skeet/SADARM category, or firing the precision guided version of the 2.75"
rocket that they have been developing). The SBCT's won't be limited to any
manpackable systems.

Due to the small load of a Dragoneye, I imagine it's more likely to
carry a very small designator, so the forces it's scouting for can lob
laser guided mortar rounds in (i.e. the XM395 PGMM). That way the UAV
doesn't need to use up any of it's valuable load on ordnance.

Personally, I don't see UCAV's filling the CAS role for many years to come;
their first employment will undoubtedly be in the deeper BAI role where
fratricide is not as big a concern. But if the Army fields a small UAV in
the SBCT's, it would probably be capable of deploying some form of
submunition or FFAR in the future, and I doubt that they would require any
trained pilots to deploy them.

I agree with all this, but would point out that *if* the organic UAVs
such as Dragoneye and Hunter provide a decent pseudo-UCAV capability,
then it's possible traditional CAS is going to be needed less
frequently.
---
Peter Kemp

Life is short - drink faster