Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

[natehale1971]

With the development of UAVs having started during the 1980s (well, acutally earlier than that... the Soviets had alot of Recon Drones back in the 1950s and 1960s... and the Kregismarine had television guided rocket bombs back during WW2) what UAVs would have been used during the Twilight War

During Desert Strom UAVs were still new and being used (and actually had some Iraqis surrendering to UAVs) in combat for the first time in modern history.

What UAVs would have been developed and used during the cannon Twilight War...

[Panther Al]

Yes.... and no.

Yes, they would exist, and be used. Especially in the first year or so. But none of them would be what people think of as UAV's these days: Serving for the most part as unmanned forward observers for artillery more than anything else.

The idea of Predators, and Global Hawks, as well as other advanced recon platforms, No. Tech wasn't *quite* there - at least in any significant numbers. I would imagine there was a few of the more advanced out there, but only a few.


Of course, this is a matter of opinion: For them to exist in the TW2K timeline, they would have to be in service no later than 97 - figuring the year or two buildup would push the arrival of the 96 and 97 era designs to operational status before the beginning of the war.

[Schone23666]

I'm pretty sure the Global Hawk UAV was around during the time. DOD and DARPA were futzing with several different UAV designs during the 90's, I believe Paul Mulcahy has a section on UAV's that might have been used during the Twilight War.

As AvGas becomes more scarce, I think UAV's might become more popular, particularly smaller lighter ones that is, that could run on electric or alcohol fueled motors. Also, I don't think it would be unrealistic to jury rig various weapons (within reason, of course) onto these UAV's, like they did with earlier versions of the Predator that were outfitted with two Hellfire missiles before they came out with the more heavily armed UAV's like they have now such as the Reaper drone. Even then, if it's only carrying cameras, that will still be a huge boost as real time reconnaissance on any battlefield is critical, especially if you have reduced recon assets to work with.

Then again, a lot of this IMO will slightly depend on what timeline your particular T2K scenario takes place in, as I know there's a few alternate timelines out there. There is a T2k module called "Airlords of the Ozarks" that dealt with New America that I have on PDF, it talks about dirigibles and 1-man light aircraft that consisted of a glider, frame and motor (forgot the damn name) that were used, if these were to also be unmanned, espeically with the dirigible equipped with cameras and a plethora of weapons, THAT would be admittedly VERY cool.

[atiff]

1-man light aircraft that consisted of a glider, frame and motor (forgot the damn name)

A microlight.

[Mohoender]

I have to say that I didn"'t know anything on UAV and therefore I checked rapidly. The least I can say is that I have been surprised as the answer is yes they will be around no doubt, at least until 1997-1998 and why not 2000. What might not be possible would be surgical strike. However, by 2000, I could very well imagine having a few still in operation and fitted with free falling grenades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles

[atiff]

However, by 2000, I could very well imagine having a few still in operation and fitted with free falling grenades.

Before you posted this, I had visions of normal (hobby) remote controled planes or helicopters dropping grenades (held in some kind of trap that is released with a switch signal), or even as a crude 'guided missile'. Not long ranged, but might be effective as 'poor man's air power' by 2000.

Andrew

[ArmySGT.]

So interesting tidbits in the history section of this WIKI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAV

I know it is a WIKI and I am not going to stake anything on it as being 100% accurate.

[Mousekill]

I know this is an old thread, but it is definately interesting. It seems that the smaller Unmanned Aicraft Systems are very appropriate for Twilight 2000. The Pioneer (RQ-2) and Pointer (FQM-151) were in use at the time the Twilight War and it seems logical their use would have ramped up significantly during war time. You would have to fudge the timelines of the the Raven (RQ-11) and Shadow (RQ-7) a bit, but they would also work nicely.

The Shadow is the platform I am familiar with. I don't know enough about the system to say if it could work on alcohol, but it was originally designed to operate off Mogas which is useful since Avgas is mostly gone. Plus, the earlier versions of the control station felt like cutting age 1980's technology. An example is they had Sony VCRs to record mission data.

It's my understanding the Raven can be charged from a HMMWV and are extremetly tough and simple.

While both of these systems are mostly used for recon, they are very portable, don't require airfields to operate, and would be very useful to military units (or anybody else) that have lost support from higher level surveilance and intelligence assets.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I recall some Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait who surrendered to a UAV after getting pasted by the Wisconsin. Or maybe it was the Missouri.

[Raellus]

During Desert Strom UAVs were still new and being used (and actually had some Iraqis surrendering to UAVs) in combat for the first time in modern history.

IIRC, the Israelis were the developers of the Pioneer UAV system used by the U.S.N. in GW1. The Israelis used them in '82 as decoys to fool Syrian SAM sites in Lebanon into turning on their radars so that F-4 and F-16 Wild Weasels could past them with Shrikes, HARMs, and cluster bombs.

I agree with Mousekill on every point. I might even take it a step further.

I think UAVs would be the most common aircraft in most hot zones during the later years of the Twilight War. Some of the earlier types of prop-driven UAVs are essentially large model aircraft and, although I'm no aircraft mechanic, it seems to me that they would be a lot easier to keep fueled and running than any manned aircraft. I don't think you'd see any hunter-killer types like the modern Predator, but small recon drones wouldn't be too uncommon over T2K battlefields.

In Fusilier's excellent T2K PbP, the protagonists recently (a few weeks ago, IRL) encountered some kind of UAV circling the ruins of Czestachowa (we still haven't figured out who was operating it or why). I thought the episode was a stroke of genius and immediately kicked myself for not thinking of such an encounter in my own campaign.

[DigTw0Grav3s]

..In Fusilier's excellent T2K PbP, the protagonists recently..

Link Would love to read it.

[Canadian Army]

With the development of UAVs having started during the 1980s (well, acutally earlier than that... the Soviets had alot of Recon Drones back in the 1950s and 1960s... and the Kregismarine had television guided rocket bombs back during WW2) what UAVs would have been used during the Twilight War

Here is a link to the UAV section of Paul's site: http://www.pmulcahy.com/uavs/uavs.html

It has the info you are looking for.

[WallShadow]

retro-tech UAVs

Anybody thought about using kites The US (Army) Weather Service did in the turn of the 20th century. Build a big enough kite and you might even be able to lift a (brave) man up for observation purposes.

[Legbreaker]

Hang gliders and winch launched gliders could also be useful for recon, although they tend to need a pilot to avoid crashing...

[pmulcahy11b]

Here is a link to the UAV section of Paul's site: http://www.pmulcahy.com/uavs/uavs.html

It has the info you are looking for.

Sorry to admit it, but a lot of that page is out of date, greatly so in some places, and update time for UAVs is a long way off. But it will give you a start point.