ABSTRACT
This chapter centres on the evolution of science and technology, from the tethered observation balloon to today’s widespread employment and proliferation of ‘drone’ systems. The author tells the story of how a series of technological revolutions have had an impact on warfare. A century that started with the simplest of military airplanes ended with low-observable ‘stealth’ aircraft, sensor-fusion of the highest order, and advanced integrated information architectures. Hallion argues that the advent of stealthy drones with greater payload, sophistication, and weapon-dispersing capability indicates that the ‘drone revolution’ is genuine and will be part of warfare for years to come, and states that the future airplane, with or without on-board pilots, will be a ‘multi-mission information-acquiring-sharing-and-using system’. It will function as a sensing, processing, and shooting platform drawing upon other systems across multiple domains, netted with both traditional C2 nodes and intelligence sources. It will disperse a variety of weapons, including perhaps ‘directed energy and long-range rocket-boosted and/or scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles’. The most important aspect of new technology is not when it is first invented or even tested, but when it becomes routinely integrated into operations and produces a strategic effect; that is, when the new technology makes a lasting difference.
