Commentary
The effectiveness of our attacks, particularly by drones, has already decimated the al Qaeda hierarchy, writes Harold Brown. That achievement, together with the negative effect on Muslim publics of drone attacks, suggests that the rate of their usage could be moderated.
Commentary
The establishment of a U.S. base in Niger is intended to facilitate intelligence collection and will provide a more complete picture of militant movements in Niger, Mali, and other countries in the Sahel, writes Seth Jones. The United States will share this intelligence with Malian and French forces.
Report
Explores an area in which the Department of Defense can operate smarter with its proliferating unmanned aircraft systems fleet.
Commentary
Practically any country that aspires to an indigenous aviation industry (as most countries do, even if only for national pride) has a reasonably capable, medium-altitude unmanned drone system in development or flying already, writes Ted Harshberger.
Commentary
Recently declassified correspondence seized in the bin Laden raid shows that the relentless pressure from the drone campaign on al-Qaida in Pakistan led bin Laden to advise al-Qaida operatives to leave Pakistan's Tribal Areas as no longer safe, writes Patrick B. Johnston.
Report
This briefing describes a suite of tools to help the Air Force think through future roles for remotely piloted aircraft.
Report
An econometric assessment of the effectiveness of incentive pays for retaining remotely piloted aircraft pilots and sensor operators.
Report
Commercial television production practices inspire an approach to managing exploitation of the Air Force's rapidly growing motion imagery collections.
Report
An evaluation of potential logistics applications for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) determines whether they are technically feasible, operationally feasible, and more cost-effective than other options. Six factors are identified that can be used to compare UAS and non-UAS based solutions to logistics tasks.
Journal Article
Unmanned aerial systems have enormous potential, but the MoD lacks an overarching UAS vision.
Report
Is powering an ultra-high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle with a laser beam a practical possibility?
News Release
Israel's disappointing performance in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 did not reflect a "failure of air power," but rather a failure of Israel's political and military leaders to properly assess the enemy, set achievable goals, apply an effective strategy and adequately manage public expectations.
Report
Israel's disappointing performance in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 did not reflect a "failure of air power," but rather a failure of Israel's political and military leaders to properly assess the enemy, set achievable goals, apply an effective strategy and adequately manage public expectations.
News Release
The rising number of terrorist plots in the United States with links to Pakistan – most recently the failed car-bombing in New York City – is partly a result of an unsuccessful strategy by Pakistan and the U.S. to weaken the range of militant groups operating in Pakistan.
Report
Evaluates the U.S. Navy's ongoing and proposed unmanned aircraft system (UAS) programs and describes the most promising applications of those UASs to the Navy's operational tasks.
Research Brief
This research brief describes work documented in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle End-to-End Support Considerations (MG-350-AF).
Research Brief
This research brief describes work documented in Air Power Against Terror: America’s Conduct of Operation Enduring Freedom (MG-166-CENTAF).
Report
Evaluating current end-to-end support postures for certain UAV systems revealed that fielding a new capability quickly can have consequences for its long-term support and for testing and evaluation, training, and plans for future enhancements.
Report
Assesses two transitions of the HAE UAV ACTD program toward the goal of determining which elements of the program's novel acquisition strategy facilitated these transitions and which engendered problems.
Report
This report addresses the effect of that acquisition strategy on the flight test program of the two air vehicles: the conventional Global Hawk and the low-observable DarkStar.