K. Unmanned Vehicles and the Use of Technology in HA/DR – Considerations
for the Department of Defense (Lesson #2655)
Observation
Unmanned and/or autonomous vehicles, primarily drones, have various applications which lend these
tools not only to military and combat operations but also and perhaps especially to humanitarian assistance
operations. The development of unmanned/autonomous systems could benefit from further research into
the necessity and use of these systems during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Additionally, the
Department of Defense could benefit from exploring the use of commercial unmanned vehicle technology
for support to foreign humanitarian assistance operations.
Discussion
Unmanned and autonomous systems are becoming increasingly attractive to the defense community for
the multifaceted applications they deliver in an operational setting. Drones in particular have been used to
carry out strikes on military targets and for surveillance in areas into which it would be dangerous to send
military personnel.
The Secretary of the Army, in a talk given at the Center for a New American Security in May 2018,
suggested that "leap-ahead technology", including "unmanned/autonomous air and ground vehicles will
likely reside in combat formations". He also emphasized the necessity for exploration and development
in these technologies given the fact that our competitors are already hard at work on the same. To this end,
tech companies have found in the Department of Defense a captive market for their innovative
technologies. Google, for example, has partnered with the DoD to develop an artificial intelligence, based
on machine learning, that can parse and analyze vast swaths of digital video and imagery provided by
unmanned surveillance aircraft.
However, as important as these systems are to combat operations, autonomous technology such as
unmanned vehicles, or drones, have obvious applications in hazardous operations not limited to the
battlefield. Humanitarian organizations have begun