Unmanned and manned aircraft carryi

Unmanned and manned aircraft carrying extended-range air-to-air missiles and equipped with wide-area surveillance sensors, HELs, and possibly HPM systems could further extend the range and increase the threat engagement capacity of a base salvo defense complex. This layered defense concept would help enable U.S. forces to conduct power-projection operations inside contested areas—and do so at significantly less cost than continuing to rely almost exclusively on expending multimillion-dollar ground-launched surface-to-air missiles against each threat in a salvo.