U.S. Air Force Studies on recent operations : UAVs, airlft in Enduring Freedom, Aerial Combat, Manned Aircraft Combat Losses, weather in Air Campaigns, Somalia, response to hurricane Katrina

The chapter on unmanned aerial vehicles executive summary: Between 1991 and 2003, the United States used a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in combat operations. These included the Pioneer, the Pointer, the Hunter, the Predator, the Global Hawk, the Dragon Eye, the Desert Hawk, and the Shadow. During those thirteen years the role of UAVs expanded from mere reconnaissance to target designation and attack. Advantages of UAVs over manned aircraft systems include eliminating pilot risk, saving money, providing long-term realtime video reconnaissance, and reducing the time between target identification and destruction. UAVs are especially useful for extremely long reconnaissance missions and for missions in areas of extreme danger. The percentage of unmanned aircraft sorties should continue to grow as UAV capabilities increase.