Abstract
The following study is devoted to the phenomenon of unmanned aerial vehicles used throughout known history on the battlefield or for military purposes. The purpose of the following text is to familiarise the reader with an overview with the contemporary and historical employment of the unmanned vehicles on the battlefield. The study also aims to show that the concept of unmanned combat vehicles, also unmanned aerial combat vehicles, is far more ancient than is it is widely known. The article is based on theoretical research methods, mostly multinational academic literature. The author starts with an introduction on the role of limiting soldiers’ fatalities and the concept of removing military men from the battleground. Then, the author presents known examples of using unmanned ships in battles from Thucydides’ times to the invention of the Hell-burner of Antwerp. Further, the case of first unmanned combat aerial vehicle is presented, the bombing balloons from the nineteenth century, followed by a more contemporary study of the military use of unmanned aircrafts. The article is concluded with an analysis of the present employment of drones when they tend to substitute manned aircrafts on various occasions, especially when a mission is deemed “dull, dirty or dangerous”.
Highlights
The manpower has always been the core elements of warfare that contributed to the military success – the defeat of the enemy
The classical military textbook manpower ratio of 3:1 against the adversary is believed to guarantee the success in an attack against equipped foe
The beginning of contemporary use of unmanned aerial vehicles can be traced back to attempts undertaken during the first World War, when an aircraft was built for the purpose of aiming practice. [7, p. 154]
Summary
The manpower has always been the core elements of warfare that contributed to the military success – the defeat of the enemy. All were employed to gain an edge over the enemy and simultaneously limit its own loses on the battlefield It is the removal of the man from the battleground that is the most efficient. The soldier was isolated in an armoured chariot equipped with submachine guns and a cannon, a tank When he reached the skies, he started to exploit its militarily, further increasing the distance between himself and his foe to the scale of total invisibility – when the attacked was no longer seen by the attacker. Despite this gradual distancing himself from the adversary, still though, the military man was vulnerable. He was removed from the battleground and allowed his weapons to continue on their own – the unmanned vehicles appeared.[1]
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