Employment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Canadian Forces Anti-Submarine Warfare

Currently, more than 30 nations are developing or manufacturing more than 250 models of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Dramatic increases in UAS platform performance and payload capacity in recent medium and high altitude, long-endurance designs permitted customers to add more systems and capabilities to their UAS design requirements. These advances resulted in UAS platform capabilities that meet or exceed legacy manned fixed wing Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and maritime surveillance platform capabilities. Employment of Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) and High-Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) UAS in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role is rapidly becoming feasible through emerging technologies and expanded payload capacities, the most significant of which are secure high-bandwidth Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) satellite datalink communications, miniature light-weight sonobuoys, and real-time shore-based acoustic processing. As a result, UAS may be a technically feasible future Canadian Forces (CF) ASW capability as a complementary or stand-alone alternative to manned fixed-wing and rotary-wing maritime ASW platforms.