IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - September 2023 - 35

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Chancellor Merkel's feet. Although the drone was
harmless, it was an early sign of the potential for
drone attacks [6].
2018-An assassination of Venezuelan President,
Nicolas Maduro was attempted. The attack was done
with a retail drone that was purchased online and
armed with military grade explosives. The unsuccessful
attack was a demonstration of the potential for
drone attack lethality [7].
2018-The Gatwick Airport was shut down due to
drone sightings at the airport. The incident took
place at the travel period prior to Christmas. It led
to the airport being closed for 30 h, disrupting 1000
flights. Thousands of travelers had their holiday
plans disrupted [8].
2019-Aramco, the Saudi Aramco oil processing
facility at Abqaiq, was attacked. A swarm of drones
along with cruise missiles were used to strike the oil
infrastructure. This caused the facility to be shut
down due to large fires and voluminous damage [9].
2022-In Ethiopia's Tigray region, 19 people were
killed over two days with UAS air strikes and many
more injured. The drones used hovered before dropping
bombs [10].
Table 1.
UAS Group Categories
UAS
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
SEPTEMBER 2023
In addition to incidents like these recent conflicts have
shown how battlefields are being transformed by UAV technology.
In the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the Azerbaijan
forces, utilizing UAVs, had a decisive warfare advantage
over Armenia. Confirmed losses via photographs or videos
showed Armenian losses at 185 T-72 tanks, 90 armored fighting
vehicles, 182 artillery pieces, 73multiple rocket launchers,
26 surface-to-air missile systems, 14 radars or jammers, one
SU-25 war plane, 4 drones, and 451 military vehicles [4].The
definitive UAV advantage of the Azerbaijan forces forced a
cease-fire and ended the war in 44 days [4].
In the Ukraine and Russia conflict, UAVs have been used
to varying degrees by both sides with Ukraine employing
them the most. UAVs have been used for a variety of uses
from carrying out strikes to guiding artillery and recording
video that feeds directly into information operations [11].The
use ofdrones has given Ukraine an edge over Russia, which is
impressive given Ukraine ranks fortieth in the world for
defense spending [11]. Ukraine's fleet of Bayraktar TB-2 s,
Turkish-made military drones, have carried out numerous successful
attacks against Russian forces, accounting for almost
half of Russia's surface-to-air missiles that have been
destroyed and helping to sink the Moskva, the flagship in
Russia's Black Sea Fleet [11]. Additionally, the scale ofsmall,
commercial drone use in Ukraine is unprecedented enabling
cheap airborne surveillance or even strike capability [12].
Weight
< 20 lbs
Altitude
21-55 lbs
< 1320 lbs
< 1320 lbs
< 1320 lbs
< 1200 feet AGL
< 3500 feet AGL
< 18,000 feet AGL
< 18,000 feet AGL
< 18,000 feet AGL
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
Speed
< 100 knots
< 250 knots
< 250 knots
any speed
any speed
35
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