Be', l'esempio non è poi così stupido. Nell'immaginario collettivo, gli UAVs sono sostanzialmente delle piattaforme FAC, ma in realtà essi svolgono una quantità di ruoli che vanno dalla sorveglianza del campo di battaglia a quella globale (ecco Global Hawk, con caratteristiche non dissimili da quelle di un U2), senza dimenticare le capacità offensive già dimostrate nella prima fase di Enduring Freedom, quano gli UAVs militari (ma, soprattutto, quelli della CIA) compirono delle vere e proprie incursioni contro obiettivi nemici.
Eccoti qualcosa sulle attuali classi di UAV:
US Air Force tiers
Tier N/A: Small/Micro UAV. Role filled by BATMAV (Wasp Block III).
Tier I: Low altitude, long endurance. Role filled by the Gnat 750.
Tier II: Medium altitude, long endurance (MALE). Role currently filled by the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper.
Tier II+: High altitude, long endurance conventional UAV (or HALE UAV). Altitude: 60,000 to 65,000 feet (19,800 m), less than 300 knots (560 km/h) airspeed, 3,000-nautical-mile (6,000 km) radius, 24 hour time-on-station capability. Complementary to the Tier III- aircraft. Role currently filled by the RQ-4 Global Hawk.
Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The RQ-3 DarkStar was originally intended to fulfill this role before it was "terminated."
US Marine Corps tiers
Tier N/A: Micro UAV. Wasp III fills this role, driven largely by the desire for commonality with the USAF BATMAV.
Tier I: Role currently filled by the Dragon Eye but all ongoing and future procurement for the Dragon Eye program is going now to the RQ-11B Raven B.
Tier II: Role currently filled by the ScanEagle and, to some extent, the RQ-2 Pioneer.
Tier III: For two decades, the role of medium range tactical UAV was filled by the Pioneer UAV. In July 2007, the Marine Corps announced its intention to retire the aging Pioneer fleet and transition to the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System by AAI Corporation. The first Marine Shadow systems have already been delivered, and training for their respective Marine Corps units is underway.
U.S. Army tiers
Tier I: Small UAV. Role filled by the RQ-11A/B Raven.
Tier II: Short Range Tactical UAV. Role filled by the RQ-7A/B Shadow 200.
Tier III: Medium Range Tactical UAV. Role currently filled by the RQ-5A / MQ-5A/B Hunter and i-Gnat, but transitioning to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) MQ-1C Warrior.
Future Combat Systems (FCS) (U.S. Army) classes
Class I: For small units. Role to be filled by all new UAV with some similarity to Micro Air Vehicle.
Class II: For companies. (cancelled.)
Class III: For battalions. (cancelled.)
Class IV: For brigades. Role to be filled by the RQ-8A/B / MQ-8B Fire Scout.
http://en.wikipedia...._aerial_vehicle
Questo messaggio è stato modificato da intruder: 26 agosto 2008 - 15:07