Force-Integration of UVS

Abstract

In this chapter, attention is drawn to the fact that some changes intended to increase productivity have resulted in performance declines because the technical systems and the social systems into which the technology has been embedded have been misaligned. In particular, since military UVS are expected to change and probably reduce the involvement of humans in certain tasks, and as modern military capability needs to respond to the threat of conventional force and the challenges of asymmetric conflict in terms of Effects Based Operations, a number of questions remain regarding what realistic effects can be expected from military UVS, how these systems should be integrated into a force, and how we might then quantify such benefits in the complex and non-linear battle space of the future. The intent of this chapter then is to try to highlight a number of the considerations, and to describe a process by which we are able to test the cost-capability trade-offs and value proposition for disruptive, next-generation UVS by testing their viability and evolving new operational and deployment concepts.