Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have a history dating back to World War I. They offer benefits such as safety for pilots and lower costs. UAVs have been used for scouting and communication, but some are equipped with weaponry and used for combat missions. The field is rapidly developing, with militaries around the world investing heavily in the next generation of UAVs.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are essentially aircraft that have no humans on board. They are also sometimes referred to as drones in common parlance, and the term Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is technically preferred. The history of UAVs begins as far back as World War I, when the military used what were essentially remote-controlled aircraft to train their artillerymen in anti-aircraft fighting. It wasn’t until the 1980s that UAVs began to be used for other purposes, with the Israel Defense Force using them to carry out a number of scouting operations. In recent years, many militaries, particularly the United States, have begun to focus heavily on the use of UAVs wherever possible.
UAVs offer a number of benefits over traditional aircraft. Chief among these is the fact that UAVs do not create any danger to pilots, allowing the military to deploy aircraft into hostile regions without fearing the loss of soldiers. UAVs can also turn out to be substantially cheaper than traditional aircraft, as they can be much smaller and do without a number of life support systems needed in piloted aircraft.
In the past, UAVs have been used primarily for scouting missions and communications. Because they can be so small, UAVs can often go completely unnoticed for stealthy intelligence gathering. Some modern UAVs have been equipped with weaponry, and in the United States, they are being used to phase out piloted air-to-ground combat missions. The most famous of these next-generation combat UAVs is the Predator, which is equipped with Hellfire missiles to take out ground-based installations.
UAVs span a wide range of autonomy, with the simplest being controlled solely by radio with no independent action, and the most complex incorporating sophisticated artificial intelligence that allows them to carry out entire missions once programmed. The current drive in UAVs is toward a vehicle that can be programmed with a general path and target, which will then take off, fly to the mission area, destroy the target, return to base, and land, all without the need for a manipulative human. However, even in this scenario, a controller would be responsible on the ground for giving the command to fire or drop a payload. This is in line with current military doctrine and ensures that there will always be a responsible agent in the event of a wrong targeting.
The UAV field is developing rapidly, with advanced militaries around the world spending vast amounts of their budgets to push the limits of what is currently possible. Many of the world’s major military powers are developing the next generation of UAVs right now, and within the next decade, they will begin to be deployed in arenas of war.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
