First technology post - UAVs for casualty evacuation (1)
Posted 13 February, 2008 in Technology, Diary
Unmanned vehicles and networked devices are an area of personal interest, and pretty much what’s putting food on my family’s table at this moment. I’ve always wondered how long it was before some bright spark realised UAVs are perfect for casualty evacuation from the battlefield. It appears the Israelis have done just that, but they tend to be bright sparks in this area:
Israel is searching for the best platform for unmanned medavec missions. The latest contender is the Butterfly unmanned powered parachute made by Israel’s EMIT.
Think of the benefits of casualty evacuation UAVs over existing methods of extraction. Firstly, in terms of getting an aircraft to the casualty you don’t have to worry so much about being shot down. You can send a number of them into a battlefield and if you lose a few on the way it’s not such a big deal. Yes, these would probably need to be designed, built and managed to a certain level of airworthiness as they’re eventually going to carry a wounded human being, but they needn’t be as expensive as something like a helicopter, and expense isn’t such a concern on this mission anyway as we’re talking about a human life. So you can get it into a tight spot under fire. UAVs lend themselves to different methods of landing compared to conventional aircraft, for example, you could pop a parafoil at a very low altitude to drop nicely into a hot landing zone. If you spudded in you could have a follow on vehicle that would try again, and it won’t matter so much as you’re probably not killing anyone. Once you’re on the ground you can load up the casualty. I’m not saying this is the ideal solution and I’m sure he’d rather be on a chopper. But if you can’t bring a chopper in because you’re risking the life of a pilot then I think someone with a sucking chest wound would happily accept a UAV ride as their next best option. So he’s launched on his way to safety. If there’s substantial risk on him being shot down on his way out then have a couple of other identical UAVs flying with him to minimise the chances of his one being hit.
Whatever happens, this technology will revolutionise the way we do a lot of things, from checking power lines to killing terrorists.
My prediction is that applications like casualty extraction will be met with a new form of air vehicle to achieve vertical take-off and landing i.e. one that isn’t rotary-wing. Rotary wing is too complex, difficult to maintain, unstable (unless it’s a gyrocopter) and more expensive. The nature of UAVs lends them to innovative new solutions being employed.
Yes, that’s right, technology! This blog was always meant to be about politics, philosophy especially Objectivism, musings on my own life………….and technology. As it says at the top of the page, I’m a techno-optimist - I see technology as a solution to nearly all human problems. Really, as an Objectivist, I’d say that’s simply applying reason as the means of improving the human condition. Of course, technology doesn’t mean we can ignore the moral side or lose qualities like self-reliance. Just that it’s certainly a great vehicle for human progress, and I like it, so I’ll write on it! However, since it took me seven years from registering the domain name to actually making my first post on politics, I suppose another eight months to my first technology post is to be expected!