Israel Army Made Pioneer UAV High Technology GPS Navigator System

Pioneer UAV Israely Army Defense

Before the 1990s, Israel alone seemed truly committed to developing unmanned military aircraft, which it believed would reduce the loss of pilots and aircraft on dangerous reconnaissance and surveillance missions. Although the U.S. had been using remotely piloted vehicles (primarily as aerial targets) since the1960s, the technologies to make unmanned aerial vehicles more than a curiosity did not yet exist.

Not until Operation Desert Storm, and the remarkable success of Pioneer a joint development of Israel Aircraft Industries and AAI in the U.S. did UAVs begin to win converts. Pioneer, first called into service as a combat spotter by the Navy on February 6, 1991, aided the battleship Wisconsin in locating Iraqi boats and shore targets 19 mi. away, andthen destroying them with its 16-in. guns. It was not long before Iraqi soldiers
learned to associate the buzzing of the tiny Pioneer with the Earth-shattering bombardment that followed moments later leading to the first-ever surrenders of human soldiers to (unarmed) flying robots in combat. The real-time and near-real-time tactical reconnaissance provided by Navy, Marine, and Army UAVs helped bring that conflict to a rapid end.

Pioneer also quickly caught the attention of military and government leaders and the media throughout the world. Aerospace firms in the U.S., Europe, and Asia pulled longignored concepts out of their files, updating
them with new technologies and materials. Newer UAVs were sent into service in the Balkans a few years later and continued flying over Iraq, helping to enforce no-fly zones and preventing Iraq’s military from conducting surprise attacks on its own people.

By the time of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, just how far UAV technology had by J.R.Wilson advanced quickly became evident. South west Asia became a proving ground for a wide array of UAVs, led by the Predator, which General Atomics Aeronautical Systems had developed for the USAF. Others ranged from hand launched, over-the-hill observation aircraft to the jet-fighter-sized Global Hawk, sent into service while still a prototype.

Technology
Today’s UAVs, and their users, are benefiting from a nearly “perfect storm” of turn-of-thecentury technology breakthroughs. Faster, less expensive computer technology has enabled more and better sensors. Lighter, more durable composite materials for skin and structure, combined with more powerful lightweight powerplants, increased both payload and range. GPS navigation and location have given UAVs unprecedented precision in reaching designated targets and pinpointing targets of opportunity. Improved developsize, weight, and capability in satellite communications have enhanced contact with ground forces in remote mountains and urban “canyons” and added communications relay to the growing list of UAV missions.

By 2000, so many advances and successes had been recorded that Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, inserted a directive into the defense budget mandating that a third of all aircraft used to attack behind enemy lines had to be unmanned by 2010. The following year, the September 11 attacks forced a rewrite of all budget, technology, and defense plans. The Pentagon budget jumped 74% between 2002 and 2008 (even without the costs of the wars), with an equally substantial boost
in R&D and procurement funding, especially for UAVs and ground and water counterparts.