A hunter is needed

Somewhere out there are lots of UAV's; Predators, Global Hawks, Hunter's, et al. All are buzzing slowly around in the sky feeding data into a network of systems that then processthis to help bring in other combat assets to beat up the selected targets. UAV's are also used to just hand around and listen, opportunistically.

Having seen the success of US efforts in this field virtually every country that can muster the coin, is getting UAV's to act as spies in the sky. These countries may not yet have the networks to tie the various assets together, but that will come ( - there may even one day be an Open Source KillYourNeighbour project, doing all this for free!)

When these UAV's get tied together someone is going to be devising ways in which they can be used to blunt US actions, to give them a covert look at US operations on their soil should they come under the US's Eagle eye.

One role that may fit UCAV's would be as a UAV killer. This craft doesn't have to be really manueverable, it doesn't even need long range weapons. In fact something stealthy, particularly in the optical part of the spectrum, something that has great endurance so it can be on station for a long time, hence can see these UAV's come up, could be a real role for Unmanned interceptors. The need for some stealth in natural light helps to protect them from being shot down by any old schmoe in a field with a big rifle, and makes them harder to detect from a fast jet.

Of course such a system would have to layer its communications; there is no way the data feed from several IR detectors reading zilch for hours on end is going to be needed in Nevada, yet when something does come up, a certain autonimous capability will be needed to optimize the approach to the target UAV, without giving it's position away ground observers or the people that are controlling the target. Finally, man-in-the-loop control will be needed to launch the weapons.

Tomorrows battlefield could well see many UAV's in the air at the same time, not all from the Blue team. The need to kill the others will become critical for network integrity and current combat doctrine.