U.S. aircraft operating over the Iraqi no-fly zone—such as the F/A-18 Hornets of VFA-105 right, returning to the Arabian Gulf from a Southern Watch patrol—are vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems. The solution to reducing the risk of shootdowns lies in unmanned technology.
In the past 30 years, U.S. forces have operated in environments where air assets have been relatively unchallenged in their ability to gain access to desired targets. Nations that have challenged U.S. air power have done so mostly with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and limited use of air-to-air aircraft. To date, U.S. forces have faced only first-generation Soviet-made surface-to-air equipment and have become quite skilled at suppressing the SA-2, SA-3, and SA-6. However, new-generation systems are far more capable in terms of range and lethality and less susceptible to U.S. suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) techniques.