Army Lays Out Ambitious Plans to Expand Unmanned Aircraft Fleet

In coming decades, unmanned aerial vehicles will expand their role in warfare beyond intelligence gathering to become a vital component of attack, transport and resupply missions, said Army officials.

“Unmanned aerial systems must provide the ability not only to see, but to shape, the battlefield,” Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli said in a keynote address at the Army Aviation Association of America conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

A key message the Army wants to get across is that unmanned aircraft are not just a fad. “They have forever changed the way the Army operates,” Chiarelli said.

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