The Era of Robotic Warfare : 30% of All US Military Aircraft are Drones

 Some herald it as the cure for terrorism, others deride it as mindless video game warfare, but few doubt that the American era of drone warfare has arrived. From short range surveillance craft like the Raven to missile packing hunter-killers like the infamous Predator, the US military is awash with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). According to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service, nearly one in three US warplanes are drones…and those machines are changing the way the world wages war. US soldiers in Afghanistan rely more and more upon intelligence gathered from drones, and President Obama recently lauded the precision and success of deadly drone-strikes against top terrorist targets in Pakistan. Meanwhile all advanced militaries in the world, from Israel to Russia, seem to be improving their own drone capabilities.

America's Incredible Weapons

PHASR Rifle

Manufactured by: the Department of Defense (DOD)

Release date: 2007

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) rifle is a handheld laser array, called a dazzler, capable of blinding and disorienting anyone caught in its sights.

While weapons to cause blindness were sagely restricted by the 1995 United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (a ruling the U.S. didn't agree to until 2009) the PHASR causes only temporary blindness, thus escaping the ban.

Dazzlers were originally mounted devices to U.S. soldiers rifles as a non-lethal way to halt Iraqis who failed to stop at checkpoints.

The PHASR uses a green laser array to calculate its targets distance and ensure its non-blinding intensity.

AA12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun

Manufactured by: Maxwell Atchisson

Release date: 2005

The AA12 can fire five 12-gauge shells per second and because the recoil is engineered at just 10 percent a normal shotgun, it can be fired from the hip with only one hand.

The Atchisson also fires a high explosive or fragmentation grenade called a FRAG-12 round to 175 meters with equal efficiency.

Designed for long-term combat use, tests have shown the AA12 can fire up to 9,000 rounds without being cleaned or jamming.

All the user needs to do is hold the trigger down for four seconds to empty the 20 round drum at a target.

MAARS Robot (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System)

Manufactured by: QinetiQ - QQ

Release date: 2009

The MAARS Robot is a modified remote control, bomb disposal robot.

Customizable to various needs, the MAARS can be configured with either an MB240 machine gun and 40mm grenade launcher, or a loudspeaker and eye dazzling laser, or bean bag guns, smoke, and pepper spray.

To date, no shots have been fired in combat by a remote device like the MAARS.

MQ9 Reaper Drone

Manufactured by: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI)

Release date: 2001

The Reaper has been around for over 10 years, but was used largely for intelligence and reconnaissance until recently. 

Today, squadrons of F-16's are being transitioned into fully unmanned drone fleets.

The Reaper is the largest of the UAV's in the U.S. arsenal with a wingspan of 84 feet, a takeoff weight of 7,000 pounds, a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds and a flight time of 36 hours.

The drone climbs up to 52,000 feet, and reads a license plate from over two miles away. Capable of carrying 500 pound bombs, air-to-ground, and air-to-air missiles the UAV fleet is poised to perform the lion's share of American air support.

As of March 2011 the Air Force has more personnel training to operate its burgeoning drone fleet than for any other weapon system in its arsenal.