THE EVOLUTION OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs) AND THEIR SIMILARITIES WITH PROXY GROUPS

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 14, 53 - 69, 22.12.2020

İbrahim Karataş

Öz

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been replacing more expensive and manned aircrafts in particularly asymmetric operations to minimize costs and death risk of pilots. This article elucidates the evolution of UAVs in detail and proposes two hypotheses: (1) armed drones have similar functions as proxy groups in proxy wars, and (2) they are evolutionary but not revolutionary. As proxy groups act on behalf of principal states, proxy weapons surrogate jets. However, despite many benefits it contributes to air forces, armed drones are hardly believed to be game-changers. Instead, they are seen as evolutionary and complementary to manned aircrafts. In addition, UAVs are beneficial mainly in asymmetric warfare since they can not be used in the air space of a country with advanced air defense systems. There may be more drones employed by armies in the future but they may not prevail over piloted aircrafts as human factor is still decisive in combats. This study is expected contribute to literature with its arguments about UAVs. Methodologically, literature review was made for the study.

Anahtar Kelimeler

UAVs, Proxy Wars, Air Forces, Arms, Fighters

İNSANSIZ HAVA ARAÇLARININ (İHA’LAR) GELİŞİMİ VE VEKİL GRUPLARA BENZERLİĞİ

Öz

İnsansız Hava Araçları (İHA’lar) maliyetleri azaltmak ve pilotların ölüm riskini en aza indirmek için insanlı hava araçlarının yerine kullanılmaya başladılar. Bu makale İHA’larin gelişimini incelemekte olup iki hipotez önermektedir. Birincisi, silahlı İHA’lar işlev olarak vekalet savaşlarındaki vekil gruplara benzerler. İkincisi, İHA’lar evrimsel olabilirler ve fakat devrimsel olamazlar. Vekil (proxy) gruplar büyük güçlerin yerine savaşırken, İHA’lar da jetlerin yerini almaya başladılar. Ancak hava kuvvetlerine yaptıkları onca katkıya rağmen İHA’lar yine de tam olarak oyun değiştirici değildirler. Ayrıca, İHA’lar sadece asimetrik savaşlarda etkili olup iyi bir hava savunma sistemine sahip bir ülkenin hava sahasında kullanılamazlar. Gelecekte çok sayıda insansız hava aracı hizmete sokulabilir ve fakat pilotlu uçaklardan daha çok öneme sahip olmayabilirler. Çünkü insan faktörü savaşlarda halen en belirleyici faktördür. Bu çalışma öne sürdüğü argümanlarla literature katkıda bulunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Yöntem olarak literatür taraması yapılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

İHA'lar, Vekalet Savaşları, Hava Kuvvetleri, Silahlar, Savaş Uçakları

Kaynakça

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