Military Drones: Then and Now

I was first interested in the military side of drone technology when I started to follow it more than decade ago. One of the first instances of armed drones being used in a theater of conflict was back in 2002. The San-Diego based General Atomics design known as the ‘Predator RQ-1’ - which had been used previously in the Balkans conflict as aerial surveillance - was the machine that carried out the targeting killings of Al-Qaida militants on Yemenis soil.

Fast-forward to 2018 and now Chinese-made models are doing exactly same thing. A Chinese ‘Wing Loong II” drone controlled by Emirati forces targeted and destroyed an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official. The Chinese copy is comparable to the General Atomics ‘MQ-9 Reaper’ design which has been used by the US military across Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a top China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp executive: "In recent years, all types of drones have proven their value and importance through a high degree of use in warfare, and the military has noticed. Many countries are now speeding up the development for these weapons systems, including China.”

Due to weapons export controls, US drone technology has only been used by its closest allies such as France, Spain and the UK. This balance of power changes with the introduction of technology-capable, armed Chinese models. Not only are they considerably cheaper than US or Israeli-made drones but the communist Chinese have no qualms about selling them to despotic or criminal regimes. Chinese sales of armed drones are booming: They have been spotted at airfields in Jordan, the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and even parked beside American models in Saudi Arabia. This has encouraged the US to drop their export controls for more of its allies - even for their armed versions.

In my opinion, the US are already working on versions (most likely with jet-engines) that will render the Chinese versions obsolete in the short-term. However, this will not discourage Beijing’s allocation of defense spending on their drone programs, potentially sparking an aerial robotic arms race between two world powers in the foreseeable future.

The American-made MQ-9 Reaper has been in service for almost a decade.

The Chinese made ‘Wing Loong II” seen at an arms bazaar - an obvious copy.

Drones for Good in the Persian Gulf

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently held an international competition titled “The Drones for Good Award’ with the winner being awarded $1 million US dollars. Out of over 800 total contest entries which were whittled down to 39 semi-finalists, the winning design was the “Gimball” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) created by the Swiss firm “Flyability.”

Made with rescue and industrial inspection needs in mind, this aircraft is equipped with a rotating carbon-fiber cage that absorbs impacts to keep it from crashing into obstacles as well as allows it to roll along the ground. Also due to its small size it can navigate collapsed buildings and toxic environments while still being able to safely fly close to humans. The company’s team lead Patrick Thevoz announced that with this new funding, they will be able to commercially develop their project within a year.

According the Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the UAE, “The UAE Drones for Good Award is a tangible outcome of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make optimal use of innovation and technology for the service of humanity.” We at Sky High Images applaud this commitment to setting global benchmarks and demonstrating how UAV’s can be used to benefit our daily lives. We encourage more governments and private organizations to promote similar innovative efforts that demonstrate UAV’s capacity to transform the world, make it a better place to live as well as to inspire new breakthroughs in this burgeoning field.