The Future of UAVs: Lessons from the "Great War".

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have undergone profound changes in the past seven decades. They have become common on all battlefields and are used by many sides including terrorist and non-state organizations. This paper theorizes that the next step in UAV development will likely parallel the development in war planes during World War I. That means, specialized UAVs will be designed for air-to-air combat in both the interceptor and defender role. This will likely be combined for best effect with the concept of swarming. The ethical and legal issues relating to this hypothetical new form of UAVs are discussed, as well as the imperatives driving this development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]