New Tactics & Upgrades to Enable Large Drones to Survive High-Tech Major Power War

Related Video Above: Navy Connects Air, Surface, Underseas Drones

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

“Insatiable” is the word U.S. military leaders have used for years to describe the Pentagon’s appetite for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), as the demand for organized, processed, time-sensitive data to be transmitted in operations continues to grow.

Surveillance overall, ranging from manned spy aircraft, sub-hunting helicopters and drones of all shapes, sizes and altitudes, is widely regarded as that key “margin of difference” when it comes to making the wartime decisions necessary to prevail. 

This includes speeds and reach, which is why the demand for surveillance drones from the U.S. and its Pacific allies in that region seems limitless, particularly because countries such as Japan, Australia, India and even Taiwan are taking fast steps to improve ISR and networking connectivity with the U.S. 

The Pacific is so vast, that Combatant Commanders regularly call for more surveillance assets and increasingly pursue new avenues to enable secure interoperability and data transmission among U.S. allies in the region.

This demand, increased by the well documented pace of Chinese Naval military expansion and modernization, may explain why Japan is acquiring high-altitude, long-endurance Global Hawk drones.