After the current Adminstration blew the chance to use unmanned aerial vehicles to protect America from attack, it has given the U.S. military effectively a blank check to make up for lost time. 2005 expenditures by the U.S. military on UAVs are estimated at almost $2 billion in 2005. Almost $400 million will be spent by the U.S. Air Force to purchase four Global Hawks; another $150 million in USAF funds will go to purchase nine Predators to follow the 100 of those vehicles that have already been delivered. The U.S. Army continues to make extensive use of the Israeli-built Hunter UAV, having flown seven of the vehicles on 600 combat sorties totaling more than 3,100 flight hours since its deployment to Iraq in January 2003. Northrop Grumman is under a $33 million contract to provide 14 more Hunters to the U.S. Army. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marines in Iraq are utilizing a similar vehicle known as Desert Hawk / Dragon Eye depending on who’s doing the flying. Canadian military forces are in the market for UAVs, too, particularly after crashing their last remaining $2 million spy plane in Afghanistan last month. Hey, it happens; crashes of UAVs are the name of the game in this stage of their development.

An astonishing level of UAV development continues by a wide range of major defense contractors, academics, small businesses, individuals and perhaps even terrorists. Even Saddam was incorrectly alleged to have threatening UAV drones along with other WMDs before Gulf War II; these unmanned Iraqi aircraft ultimately turned out to be “very primitive”. Whew.

The ultimate threat of offensive UAVs is very real, and their use (or, has been shown by President Bush, their non-use) can significantly change history. In the future, American national security authorities may well view significant model aviation capability by any sufficently sophisticated group or country as a potential threat. Then what?