The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators

Andreas Werner; Ulrich Kreutzmann; Stephanie Glowka; Cynthia Schinkel

doi:doi:10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators

Andreas Werner, Ulrich Kreutzmann, Stephanie Glowka, Cynthia Schinkel

Published in Clinical Medicine Research (Volume 9, Issue 1)

Received: 29 August 2019 Accepted: 22 November 2019 Published: 18 February 2020

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Abstract

Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA; also called drones) constitute a new dimension in aviation. In the past, the military used RPAs extensively in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they are employed worldwide, which illustrates the new way of future complementary military warfare. It is well known that military personnel develops mental health disorders (MHD) during their military services or after deployments, including military pilots or fighting personnel (15.9 per 1,000 person-years). Despite the assumption that operators of drones compared to pilots are not vulnerable to MHD, because they are not physically involved and far away from combat operations and the battlefield, it becomes apparent that there is evidence that they are affected in the same way. During the last years, typical symptoms of PTSD occurred in such individuals and resulted in a severe disturbance of health (25.0 per 1,000 person-years). Currently, to our best knowledge, only in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RPA operators participate directly in the act of war also using destructive weapons. Especially in this population, increasing and high levels of psychological stress, fatigue, and rates of MH diagnoses were found, without significant difference in the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA operators and traditional pilots. The German Air Force has been using drones up to now exclusively for reconnaissance. According to empiric observation, the development of MHD among German RPAs operators was not observed, but it has to be assumed that we will also find these illnesses if we proceed with this technology. Hence, military policymakers and clinicians should be highly sensitive to the fact that RPA operators also have a high probability of developing mental health disorders, particularly when using remotely piloted aircraft as weapons.

Published in	Clinical Medicine Research (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15
Page(s)	25-30
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), Operators, Armed Forces, Psychological Stress, Mental Health Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)

References

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APA Style

Andreas Werner, Ulrich Kreutzmann, Stephanie Glowka, Cynthia Schinkel. (2020). The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clinical Medicine Research, 9(1), 25-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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ACS Style

Andreas Werner; Ulrich Kreutzmann; Stephanie Glowka; Cynthia Schinkel. The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clin. Med. Res. 2020, 9(1), 25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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AMA Style

Andreas Werner, Ulrich Kreutzmann, Stephanie Glowka, Cynthia Schinkel. The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clin Med Res. 2020;9(1):25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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@article{10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15,
  author = {Andreas Werner and Ulrich Kreutzmann and Stephanie Glowka and Cynthia Schinkel},
  title = {The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators},
  journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {25-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.20200901.15},
  abstract = {Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA; also called drones) constitute a new dimension in aviation. In the past, the military used RPAs extensively in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they are employed worldwide, which illustrates the new way of future complementary military warfare. It is well known that military personnel develops mental health disorders (MHD) during their military services or after deployments, including military pilots or fighting personnel (15.9 per 1,000 person-years). Despite the assumption that operators of drones compared to pilots are not vulnerable to MHD, because they are not physically involved and far away from combat operations and the battlefield, it becomes apparent that there is evidence that they are affected in the same way. During the last years, typical symptoms of PTSD occurred in such individuals and resulted in a severe disturbance of health (25.0 per 1,000 person-years). Currently, to our best knowledge, only in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RPA operators participate directly in the act of war also using destructive weapons. Especially in this population, increasing and high levels of psychological stress, fatigue, and rates of MH diagnoses were found, without significant difference in the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA operators and traditional pilots. The German Air Force has been using drones up to now exclusively for reconnaissance. According to empiric observation, the development of MHD among German RPAs operators was not observed, but it has to be assumed that we will also find these illnesses if we proceed with this technology. Hence, military policymakers and clinicians should be highly sensitive to the fact that RPA operators also have a high probability of developing mental health disorders, particularly when using remotely piloted aircraft as weapons.},
 year = {2020}
}

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T1  - The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators
AU  - Andreas Werner
AU  - Ulrich Kreutzmann
AU  - Stephanie Glowka
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AB  - Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA; also called drones) constitute a new dimension in aviation. In the past, the military used RPAs extensively in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they are employed worldwide, which illustrates the new way of future complementary military warfare. It is well known that military personnel develops mental health disorders (MHD) during their military services or after deployments, including military pilots or fighting personnel (15.9 per 1,000 person-years). Despite the assumption that operators of drones compared to pilots are not vulnerable to MHD, because they are not physically involved and far away from combat operations and the battlefield, it becomes apparent that there is evidence that they are affected in the same way. During the last years, typical symptoms of PTSD occurred in such individuals and resulted in a severe disturbance of health (25.0 per 1,000 person-years). Currently, to our best knowledge, only in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RPA operators participate directly in the act of war also using destructive weapons. Especially in this population, increasing and high levels of psychological stress, fatigue, and rates of MH diagnoses were found, without significant difference in the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA operators and traditional pilots. The German Air Force has been using drones up to now exclusively for reconnaissance. According to empiric observation, the development of MHD among German RPAs operators was not observed, but it has to be assumed that we will also find these illnesses if we proceed with this technology. Hence, military policymakers and clinicians should be highly sensitive to the fact that RPA operators also have a high probability of developing mental health disorders, particularly when using remotely piloted aircraft as weapons.
VL  - 9
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Author Information

Andreas Werner

Aviation Physiological Diagnostic and Research, Branch I 1, Centre of Aerospace Medicine, German Air Force, K?nigsbrück, Germany; Charité University Medicine, Department for Physiology, Center of Space Medicine and Extreme Environments, Berlin, Germany
Ulrich Kreutzmann

Aviation Physiological Training Centre, Branch I 1, Centre of Aerospace Medicine, German Air Force, K?nigsbrück, Germany
Stephanie Glowka

Psychological Training and Education, Branch I 1, Centre of Aerospace Medicine, German Air Force, K?nigsbrück, Germany
Cynthia Schinkel

Psychological Training and Education, Branch I 1, Centre of Aerospace Medicine, German Air Force, K?nigsbrück, Germany

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APA Style

Andreas Werner, Ulrich Kreutzmann, Stephanie Glowka, Cynthia Schinkel. (2020). The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clinical Medicine Research, 9(1), 25-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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ACS Style

Andreas Werner; Ulrich Kreutzmann; Stephanie Glowka; Cynthia Schinkel. The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clin. Med. Res. 2020, 9(1), 25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

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AMA Style

Andreas Werner, Ulrich Kreutzmann, Stephanie Glowka, Cynthia Schinkel. The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators. Clin Med Res. 2020;9(1):25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15,
  author = {Andreas Werner and Ulrich Kreutzmann and Stephanie Glowka and Cynthia Schinkel},
  title = {The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators},
  journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {25-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.20200901.15},
  abstract = {Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA; also called drones) constitute a new dimension in aviation. In the past, the military used RPAs extensively in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they are employed worldwide, which illustrates the new way of future complementary military warfare. It is well known that military personnel develops mental health disorders (MHD) during their military services or after deployments, including military pilots or fighting personnel (15.9 per 1,000 person-years). Despite the assumption that operators of drones compared to pilots are not vulnerable to MHD, because they are not physically involved and far away from combat operations and the battlefield, it becomes apparent that there is evidence that they are affected in the same way. During the last years, typical symptoms of PTSD occurred in such individuals and resulted in a severe disturbance of health (25.0 per 1,000 person-years). Currently, to our best knowledge, only in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RPA operators participate directly in the act of war also using destructive weapons. Especially in this population, increasing and high levels of psychological stress, fatigue, and rates of MH diagnoses were found, without significant difference in the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA operators and traditional pilots. The German Air Force has been using drones up to now exclusively for reconnaissance. According to empiric observation, the development of MHD among German RPAs operators was not observed, but it has to be assumed that we will also find these illnesses if we proceed with this technology. Hence, military policymakers and clinicians should be highly sensitive to the fact that RPA operators also have a high probability of developing mental health disorders, particularly when using remotely piloted aircraft as weapons.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The New Quality of Aviation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Prevent Psychological Stress of Military Drone Operators
AU  - Andreas Werner
AU  - Ulrich Kreutzmann
AU  - Stephanie Glowka
AU  - Cynthia Schinkel
Y1  - 2020/02/18
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15
T2  - Clinical Medicine Research
JF  - Clinical Medicine Research
JO  - Clinical Medicine Research
SP  - 25
EP  - 30
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-9057
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20200901.15
AB  - Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA; also called drones) constitute a new dimension in aviation. In the past, the military used RPAs extensively in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, they are employed worldwide, which illustrates the new way of future complementary military warfare. It is well known that military personnel develops mental health disorders (MHD) during their military services or after deployments, including military pilots or fighting personnel (15.9 per 1,000 person-years). Despite the assumption that operators of drones compared to pilots are not vulnerable to MHD, because they are not physically involved and far away from combat operations and the battlefield, it becomes apparent that there is evidence that they are affected in the same way. During the last years, typical symptoms of PTSD occurred in such individuals and resulted in a severe disturbance of health (25.0 per 1,000 person-years). Currently, to our best knowledge, only in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RPA operators participate directly in the act of war also using destructive weapons. Especially in this population, increasing and high levels of psychological stress, fatigue, and rates of MH diagnoses were found, without significant difference in the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA operators and traditional pilots. The German Air Force has been using drones up to now exclusively for reconnaissance. According to empiric observation, the development of MHD among German RPAs operators was not observed, but it has to be assumed that we will also find these illnesses if we proceed with this technology. Hence, military policymakers and clinicians should be highly sensitive to the fact that RPA operators also have a high probability of developing mental health disorders, particularly when using remotely piloted aircraft as weapons.
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
ER  -

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