F-16 Uninhabited Air Combat Vehicles

The U.S. Air Force is actively pursuing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. However, the Air Force has not funded any substantial research into bomb or missile carrying "lethal" UAVs, also called uninhabited combat air vehicles (UCAVs), despite the recommendations of the USAF scientific board's New World Vistas, DARPA, and the Air Force 2025 project. With budget constraints and a reluctance to transition to an unmanned combat force, new advanced technology UCAVs are decades from operational status.In the meantime, the U.S. needs to quickly field an interim UCAV program for political, economic and military reasons. An interim UCAV will provide another unmanned military option for U.S. leadership that currently relies on cruise missiles to deal with conflicts where the loss of American lives is politically unacceptable.