UAVs and Cruise Missiles as Asymmetric Threats: How Do These Systems Compare with Alternative Attack Modes?

The cruise-missile and UAV industries are very dynamic. New systems and new applications are designed each year for commercial and military applications. Terrorist groups have not ignored these systems; however, that only a few examples of terrorist experimentation and use have come to light to date suggests that interest is not widespread. In this chapter, we outline the UAV and cruise-missile markets and their distinguishing characteristics and describe the use of these weapons in three broad attack modes. Finally, we compare these three modes generally with other attack modes to highlight their distinguishing attack characteristics. The demonstrated utility of cruise-missile