Unmanned Aircraft systems capability research priorities

Much of aerospace academia is anticipating a boom in Unmanned Aircraft (UA) funding and research opportunities. The expectation is built on the premise that UAs will revolutionize aerospace, which is likely based on current trends. There is also an anticipation of an increasing number of new platforms and research investment, which is likely but must be analysed carefully to determine where the opportunities might lie. This paper draws on the state of industry and a systems engineering approach. We explore what aspects of UAs really are the results of aerospace science advances and what aspects will be rather more mundane works of engineering.