DRONES HISTORY

CLASSIFICATION AND USES

Raven Drones

HISTORY

Pre-Aviation Days Eddy's Surveillance Kite (USA, 1898) takes worlds first wartime

aerial surveillance photos

1910s & 1920s Tesla describes unmanned aerial combat vehicles (1915) RAF Aerial Target (UK, 1916-17) designed for defense against

Zeppelins, and as a flying bomb Sperry Aerial Torpedo (USA, 1916-18) incorporated A gyro-stabilizer,

automatic steering gyroscope, a barometer, and an engine-revolution counter.

RAE LARYNX (UK, 1925-27) engine produced 200Hhp; top speed 320kph faster than fighters of the time, armed with a 113 kg warhead.

HISTORY

1930s & 1940s Small advances but primarily remote controlled aircraft and the V1-V2

rockets which were more closely related to the modern cruise missiles

1950s & 1960s Drones primarily developed as targets for air to air and ground to air

missile training and assessment AQM-34 Ryan Firebee (USA, 1960s) using anti-radar paint its radar

signature was reduced. Between October of 1964 and April of 1975, over 1,000 of these drones flew in over 34,000 surveillance missions over SouthEast Asia, with an 83% recovery rate.

HISTORY 1970s & 1980s

Firebee 1241 (1970s, Israel) In 1970 Israel purchased 12 drones from the U.S., modified them, and re-designated them 'Firebee 1241'. These drones proved vital both as reconnaissance drones, and as decoys, a function not yet used much for drones.

1990s to Present General Atomics Aeronautical Systems RQ-1 Predator (USA, 1996) made into several variants including

the Reaper [an armed UAV or more correctly a UCAV] Drones begin to be man-portable, the smallest of which is 4 inches and 16 grams.

CLASSIFICATION Classified by category

Target and decoy  Reconnaissance  Combat [UCAV] Logistics  Research and development  Civil and Commercial UAVs 

Classified by range/altitude Hand-held 2,000 ft alt., about 2 km range Close 5,000 ft alt., up to 10 km range NATO type 10,000 ft alt., up to 50 km

range Tactical 18,000 ft alt., about 160 km range MALE (medium altitude, long endurance)

up to 30,000 ft alt. and range over 200 km HALE (high altitude, long endurance)

over 30,000 ft alt. and indefinite range HYPERSONIC high-speed, supersonic

(Mach 1–5) or hypersonic (Mach 5+) 50,000 ft or suborbital alt., range over 200 km

ORBITAL low earth orbit (Mach 25+) CIS Lunar Earth-Moon transfer CACGS Computer Assisted Carrier

Guidance System for UAVs

Note : The United States military employs a tier system for categorizing its UAVs. The Tiers do not refer to specific models of aircraft but rather roles for which various models and their manufacturers competed.

USES

Remote sensing Commercial aerial surveillance Domestic policing Oil, gas and mineral exploration and production Transport Scientific research Armed attacks Search and rescue Conservation Forest fire detection