Application of Technology in Modern Warfare: The Drones

A drone is small air craft often too small to carry a human pilot and for that reason it is remotely controlled by a nearby ground unit. They are often used to gain a bird's eye view of the environment, reviling the enemy's position, and may also carry light weapons that can be deployed on a target.
Because of their small size, drones are hard to spot in the sky and for this reason, they are often used to spy at the enemy or carry out attacks without being detected.

Advantage Over Conventional Aircraft.

• Cheaper to produce
  Drones are cheaper to produce or buy compared to fighter jets.
• Cheaper to maintain
  Drones are cheaper to maintain compared to the amount you spend flying a fighter jet per hour. You will spend less operating a drone if compared to your operating a fighter jet for the same duration.
• No War Prisoner
  In the event of a drone being destroyed, the pilot is not taken prisoner because he is safe in a control cabin some distance away, unlike fighter jets whom if the pilot should survive the strike will be taken as a prisoner of war by the enemy forces.
• Higher safety for pilot
  When a drone is shut out of the sky, only the equipment is damaged the drone pilot can't sustain any injury or be killed which is not the case with a fighter jet. Even the very faint of heart can carry out deadly strikes with a drone, knowing that they are safe and the whole event simply looks like a video game or a simulation exercise.
• Precision strikes
  With the onboard computing power in the drones, precision strikes can be conducted using drones with no fear of being gun down in enemy territory. The drones have the technology needed to execute precision strikes based on the accuracy of computer systems.

The Rise of The Suicide Drones

Drones like the US Predator hulk have been used extensively by the us army by the us army to provide ground soldiers with support from the air, such craft have an amount of weapon they can carry at a time and will have to land for a refuel and a restock of its weapons.
In it's war against Russia, the Ukrainian army being inferior in number and sophistication is creating effects with the use of the Bayraktar TB-2 drones made by Turkey.
New to this group of drones is the suicide drone also known as Loitering munitions. These are unmanned combat aerial vehicles that do not carry a weapon because they themselves are the weapon. The drone itself is a bomb that will explode itself on the target. Meaning that once it is deployed, it will not come back for a refuel, the whole drone will be guided to it's target and will explode on reaching it's target.
"The Switchblade 600 is an example of this flying bombs that can fly at a speed of 63 to 100 meters per hour for 40 minutes with a radios of 6.2 miles" according to boston25news
While in operation, the drone onboard computer transmits real time images of its immediate environment allowing it's operator to make real time decisions based on what is captured by the cameras.

^{A Predator Drone loaded with stinger missiles :: source}

Application of Loitering munitions

This suicide drones are small enough to fit in a bag pack. Once deployed, they remain airborne waiting for the right time to strike on less protected target and smaller infrastructures.
Some models are able to engage in coordinated attacks communicated across by other drones.
This winged bombs can be operated by foot soldiers right there in the front lines. This kamikaze drones are designed for a one time use with a few models design with an abort function making it possible to call off a strike.

Conclusion

Technology has greatly changed the nature of warfare by introducing technology based weapon systems that makes the wars of previous centuries look like a glorified quarrel among neighbors. Technology has made projectile missiles a thing of the past resulting in guided missile systems that are very precised due to their ability to lock on to a target. Suicide Drones can stalk their target waiting for the ideal opportunity, Creating new dimensions in the Russia Ukrainian conflict.