The UAS study foresees unmanned aircraft flying “counter-air operations similar to [Operations] Deny Flight, Northern [Watch], and Southern Watch,” all long-running air exclusion operations in the 1990s. These, said the study, “may quite conceivably be supported by crews, operational staffs, and CAOCs that substantially remain in either CONUS or established headquarters far away from the point of intended operational effects.” Success in this area “hinges on development of increasing levels of autonomy,” the study concludes.
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
