Modern and prospective technologies for weather modification activities: A look at integrating unmanned aircraft systems

•First look at the integration of autonomous unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for weather modification operations and research.•Issues with UAS integration are primarily related to government policy, technology advancements, and operational considerations.•Demand exists for UAS that measure meteorological state parameters, 3D-winds and cloud microphysics in conditions conducive to seeding.•Instrumented UAS will improve and validate model parameterizations especially when applied to simulating seeding agent dispersion.•Cloud physics measurements by UAS are needed to test cloud seeding hypotheses.•UAS allow for concurrent, real-time eulerian and lagrangian analyses of seeding processes throughout cloud life cycles on sub-cloud scales

Present-day weather modification technologies are scientifically based and have made controlled technological advances since the late 1990s, early 2000s. The technological advances directly related to weather modification have primarily been in the decision support and evaluation based software and modeling areas. However, there have been some technological advances in other fields that might now be advanced enough to start considering their usefulness for improving weather modification operational efficiency and evaluation accuracy. We consider the programmatic aspects underlying the development of new technologies for use in weather modification activities, identifying their potential benefits and limitations. We provide context and initial guidance for operators that might integrate unmanned aircraft systems technology in future weather modification operations.