Preface
Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD) is our sixth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs & UUVs. Other textbooks in our series are Disruptive Technologies with applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries; Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land; Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations; Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 2nd edition; and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Cyber Domain Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 1st edition. Our previous five titles have received considerable global recognition in the field. (Nichols et al., 2021) (Nichols R. K. et al., 2020) (Nichols R. et al., 2020) (Nichols R. et al., 2019) (Nichols R. K., 2018) [1]
Our sixth title is a new purview for UAS / CUAS / UUV (drones). We are concerned with the future use of these inexpensive devices and their availability to maleficent actors. As I write this Preface, we are on the 56th day of the savage invasion of Ukraine by Russia under President Putin. The Russian drone fleet numbers are above 500. They have had five years to grow their fleet. It currently uses them for domestic security, Syrian operations, and defense. (Facon, 2016) In the conflict, Russian troops seriously outnumber Ukrainian forces. However, on February 8, 2022, a Forbes report stated that Ukraine used 20 Turkish TB-2 drones to hit Russian targets and offset some of Russia’s enormous military advantages. (Malsin, 2022) According to Fox News, on February 27, 2022, President Putin ordered nuclear deterrent forces status raised to “special combat readiness” (Colton, 2022)
News like this in just one conflict suggests that UASs in air and underwater will be the future of military operations. They can deliver a huge punch for a low investment and minimize human casualties. Our team believes that China is watching both the United States’ Neville Chamberlain appeasement strategy and the aggressive nature of Russia in its full-scale invasion of its neighbor. This portends that Taiwan is the next meal on the global plate. Unfortunately, two other state actors have season tickets: Iran and North Korea. Iran’s drone fleet is impressive and has caused other Gulf states’ inventories to escalate (UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Israel) (Barrie, 2021). North Korea (NK) lies about its air power. However, one report states that NK will have drones with stealth capability. (Choi, 2021) Maybe. According to Datablog, the US has the most drones and is best equipped for warfare. China, of course, might dispute these statistics. (DATABLOG, 2012)[2] [3]However, carrying a big stick doesn’t count anymore in the UAS’s future military play without the will to use it.
Our Wildcat team is composed of some impressive SMEs. We divided the work into four sections. Section 1 covers Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) weapons and payloads delivered by unmanned vehicles. Here we look at the technologies and damage delivered by drones as mini weapons of mass destruction and disruption. Chapter 7 concentrates on Deception and how drones can be used in PSYOPS and INFOWAR. Section 2 concentrates on Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), projectiles payloads, satellite killers, port disrupters, and cyberweapons against CBRN assets. Section 3 looks at policy considerations, risk assessments of threats and vulnerabilities of drone-based WMDD / DEW, practical crime scene investigations for hot zones, and unique challenges of responding to bioterrorism and chemical threats and attacks delivered by drones. Our final Section 4 concludes with social networking implications and DRONESEC security and tracking tools of the trade.
Over two years of solid research by a team of eleven SMEs is incorporated into our book. We trust you will enjoy reading it as much as we have in its writing. There are nightmares aplenty.
Best
Randall K Nichols, DTM
Professor of Practice
Director, Unmanned Aircraft Systems –
Cybersecurity Certificate Program
UAS / CUAS / UUV Series Managing Editor / Co-Author
Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus &
Professor Emeritus – Cybersecurity, Utica College
LinkedIn Profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/randall-nichols-2222a691
Illi nunquam cedunt.
“We Never Yield”
Bibliography
Barrie, D. (2021, July 1). Iran’s-drone-fleet. Retrieved from https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog: https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/aug/20/irans-drone-fleet
Choi, D. (2021, March). could-north-korea-soon-field-advanced-stealth-drones/. Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/: https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/could-north-korea-soon-field-advanced-stealth-drones/
Colton, E. (2022, February 27). putin-orders-nuclear-deterrent-forces-be-put-on-high-alert. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/world/: https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-orders-nuclear-deterrent-forces-be-put-on-high-alert
DATABLOG. (2012, August 3). drone-stocks-by-country. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/aug/03/drone-stocks-by-country
Facon, I. (2016, May). A-Perspective-on-Russia-Proliferated-Drones. Retrieved from http://drones.cnas.org/: http://drones.cnas.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/A-Perspective-on-Russia-Proliferated-Drones.pdf
Malsin, B. F. (2022, February 12). ukraines-use-of-armed-drones-could-offset-some-of-russias-enormous-military-advantage. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-use-of-armed-drones-could-offset-some-of-russias-enormous-military-advantage-11644676305
Nichols, R. K. (2018). Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) In the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets. 1st Ed. Manhattan, KS: New Prairie Press.
Nichols, R. K., Ryan, J., Mumm, H., Lonstein, W., Carter, C., Hood, J., . . . & Jackson, M. (2020). Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations on Air, Sea, Land. Manhattan, KS: New Prairie Press #35.
Nichols, R. K., Sincavage, S., Mumm, H., Lonstein, W., Carter, C., Hood, J., . . . & Shields, B. (2021). Disruptive Technologies With Applications In Airline, Marine, Defense Industries. Manhattan, KS: New Prairie Press, #TBA.
Nichols, R., Ryan, J., Mumm, H., Carter, C., Lonstein, W., & Hood, J. (2020). Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations. Manhattan, KS: New Prairie Press, #31.
Nichols, R., Ryan, J., Mumm, H., Lonstein, W., Carter, C., & Hood, J. (2019). Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 2nd edition. Manhattan, KS: https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/27/.
Wiki. (2021, January 4). Emerging_technologies definition. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_technologies#: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_technologies#:~:text=Emerging%20technologies%20are%20technologies%20whose,background%20of%20nonexistence%20or%20obscurity.
[1] NPP metrics as of 04/22/2022: 36,627 downloads (with additional files) for commercial, military, educational, government, and small business organizations, 1,362 institutions, 163 countries, 10,143 metadata pages, 7,641 abstract views, 48 social media, 28,019 usage, and 337 referrers! Our books are averaging 1,000 + downloads /month. These figures do not include Amazon sales, Kindle, or Tablet versions.
[2] DATABLOG data is interesting but dated. Accurate numbers by certain countries are not generously reported or are CLASSIFIED.
[3] We have issued clear warnings about China’s drone capabilities in all uses in our textbooks. The Chinese New Silk Road Land and Sea Strategy employs UASs in the air and UUVs underwater in the South China Seas. PLAN’s success has been documented. China also uses drones to enforce its social policies and ISR capabilities. They export more drones than any other county. It would be foolish to discount China as a secondary player supporting Russia in its illegal operations in Ukraine.
