A concept of unmanned aerial vehicles in amphibious operations

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to perform a conceptual study of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in amphibious operations. It focused on the command relations, tasking and critical problems in UAV amphibious operations. This thesis investigated the question of whether using UAVs at sea is a feasible complement to current amphibious operational doctrine and, if so, then what expense is incurred to assets on which it is embarked and assigned to the Amphibious Ready Group. This thesis concluded that UAVs were a feasible complement to current amphibious doctrine, but several critical issues to include EMI, video distribution and air space management, had to be investigated further. Additionally, topics for future research were detailed in chapter VII.