Why Demand For Armed-Drones Is Surging

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments

Still don’t know how we plan on buying multi million dollar su-30s in the future when we can buy a bunch of those Chinese drones instead

👍︎︎ 6 👤︎︎ u/YungVarti 📅︎︎ May 10 2021 🗫︎ replies
Captions
Armed, unmanned and high tech drones or remotely piloted aircraft are becoming a ubiquitous battlefield presence. And frankly, I think we're in the middle of an underground drone arms race and larger drones like the mq nine Reaper, as well as medium sized drones such as the Turkish TB two and the Chinese wing loonged II have become a must have item for militaries worldwide. At the moment we've seen we see like over 100 states worldwide are using military drones and that number is growing significantly in Libya, Nagorno Karabakh, and during the US Global War on Terror. armed drones have been active across the globe. These drones can fly 1000s of feet high and rain down destruction with pinpoint accuracy with little warning. But who makes these high tech weapons of war? It is not very easy to develop armed drones but it also is not quite as difficult as say developing new nuclear weapons. And who is buying them. Drone technology isn't that new. During World War Two the US remotely piloted A B 17 as part of a test program and during the Cold War drones were used to spy on other countries. The SR-71 even had a rocket powered drone that it could deploy in flight to take photos to be retrieved later. Drones date back much longer to early flight but like the modern drones basically trace their origin to the 80s. The convergence of satellite technology composites and computer miniaturization allowed for the rise of drones like the General Atomics mq one predator. General Atomics, which includes ga aeronautical Systems Inc, are one of the leading producers of unmanned systems in the world. They currently produce the mq nine Reaper as well as the naval version, the sea Guardian among other unmanned systems. In the 2000s. The predator was armed with missiles, which quietly started a new arms race. It had the ability to stay overhead for long periods of time, and it could be controlled by a ground station in another country. The drone became the face of us conflicts in the Middle East. And moral and legal questions about drone use rose from the targeted killing campaigns that the US operates to this day. In 2001, the mq nine Reaper made its first flight and eventually became the dominant arm drone that the US fielded. The Reaper has a payload of 3850 pounds, which compares to the predators 450 pounds. This means it can carry far more missiles or bombs than the predator among other advantages. But what will eventually replace the hundreds of Reaper drones has yet to be revealed. One current General Atomics aeronautical project as seen in this General Atomics video is the Avenger the US military has not adopted the Avenger for frontline service. The advanced drone is designed to be stealthy and survivable against modern air defenses, which could make it a window into what the drone of the future will look like that replaces the mq nine, the US government the US military will never fight another war without drone technology ever again. But unfortunately, I feel like as a whole, we are no longer have the advantage. countries around the world have taken notice of the investment the US is pouring into larger drones. And they've made efforts to buy these game changing drones themselves. The US has been judicious about what countries that allows General Atomics to sell to. We have put too much of an emphasis on restricting exports to countries that are in need of this technology countries that are friendly to us because we've wanted to maintain that airspace dominance. The mq nine requires a ground station satellite links and maintenance for its high tech hardware and software. And this means the mq nines ballooning price point of around $32 million has dissuaded some perspective buyers allies like Australia have shown interest in buying the mq nine B and the US State Department cleared a $1.6 billion deal in late April for 12, Sky guardians and all associated equipment but the demand for more affordable drones hasn't subsided, leading to others filling the needs of the market. What's interesting to note is that for many years, about a decade or so before, the US and Israel basically had a monopoly over more sophisticated armed drone systems. And neither of them were really keen on exporting, Israel was one of the earliest adopters of drone technology and also one of the first exporters' however these exported drones are generally unarmed, making them less useful against military targets. And partly because there was this almost export ban. A number of other actors started to develop their own domestic armed drones, most notably China and Turkey. China's Chengdu aircraft industry group has produced the wing loong series of drones. The price point of the wing long to which runs an estimated one to $2 million has made it up Popular addition to militaries in Africa and the Middle East, Russia is likely to try to eventually export its homegrown Orion drone, and Turkey which has made a strong push in recent decades to build an aerospace industry has produced one of the most infamous medium sized drones. The Baykar defense produced TB2 to which is controlled by line of sight has made an impact in Nagorno Karabakh and in Libya. Several countries including Ukraine, which signed a $69 million contract for armed TB2s in 2019 have ordered the Turkish drone, and more potential buyers could be wooed by the highlight reel of the TB2 taking our modern tanks in real world situations. These highlight reels of destruction haven't been all upside for the new entry to the armed drone market. Some armed drones have been regulated as missiles under international law. I think our policymakers need to adapt the policy for the 21st century and understand that there's many different actors using drone technology and they're using them in different ways. The Missile Technology Control Regime or mtcr restricts the export of missiles capable of carrying a 500 kilogram payload at least 300 kilometers. This is why some drones are considered missiles under the mtcr. The US has previously limited what drones can be sold to other countries due to the mtcr. Sort of the big drone export news changed last summer when the Trump administration decided to loosen some restrictions on what the United States could expert the Biden administration has so far upheld that relaxed restriction Canada and Germany are two countries that have banned the export of key materials used to make armed drones in Turkey and Iran respectively. In the end, drones are just you know, model airplanes with great sensors on them. And all of these are, you know, dual use and simply used in the civilian realm. And in fact, the drones have risen enormously in the civilian realm over the last five to 10 years. And so so controlling their export is is really difficult. And I would also note that it is not that difficult to to develop these systems. What happens when everyone can buy a quadcopter or a fixed wing drone for a couple 100 bucks. Some manufacturers of non military drones have put in safeguards, like geo fencing to prevent drones from being weaponized. geo fencing is a preset limitation on where drone can be flown. airports are commonly fenced off to prevent drones from interfering with airport operations. Civilian drones can also be used for all kinds of really helpful applications from agricultural use to checks and controls etc. So how do you control those kinds of things, there are also concerns about the ethical problems with using armed drones. So for example, the large scale drone campaign started by bush and expanded under Obama. We saw the increased use of armed drones for targeted executions and increasing numbers of civilians who were killed in those kind of operations who didn't have any access to accountability and in reparations, because technically the program didn't exist. Large armed drones aren't going away. Bayker is working on a larger drone called the Akinci which can be satellite controlled and has a larger payload. China also appears to be working towards fielding a newly developed armed drone. But advances in technology are allowing smaller drones to tackle missions that previously would have only been possible with a larger drone. So when I see conflicts, like what's taking place in Syria, or with Russia, starting to use these all over the world, and not even just the type of drones that you would think are multimillion dollar drones, we're talking about drones that a kid can purchase off of the Internet, and anyone that has savvy knowledge of how to turn these things into deadly weapons has the ability. Unfortunately, these days to do something bad with it. Drone swarms are dozens or hundreds of drones operating in unison that can overwhelm defenses. And loitering munitions like the Herot which is produced in Israel are blurring the line between cruise missile and drone and with regard to geese, loitering munitions or camicazi, drones or whatever you want to call them. These are primarily at this point produced by Israel. Both are systems that basically go into the air they they loiter for a while, search for a target and then dive into the car to target and explode with it. This is why they're called Kamikaze drones because they you know, they don't come back they they destroy themselves new types of armed drones, potential civilian casualties and the legal gray area of targeted killings are all issues that the drone industry will need to contend with in the coming years. The biggest challenge at the moment, how does technology which is always two steps ahead of regulation, how can we ensure that it doesn't get out of hand
Info
Channel: CNBC
Views: 833,695
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: CNBC, business, finance stock, stock market, news channel, news station, breaking news, us news, world news, cable news, finance news, money tips, financial news, Stock market news, economic reopening, aviation, OSM Aviation Academy, FunForLouis, Mentour Pilot, Captain Joe, Just Planes, AiirSource Military, WarLeaks, War Clashes, USA Military Channel, air force, Armed drones, aircraft, military drones
Id: OcJIngr3sf4
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)
Published: Fri May 07 2021
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.