A MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer surveillance UAV used by the United States Armed Forces and British Armed Forces, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MQ-1 Predator (Reno Air Show)
RQ-4 Global Hawk, a high-altitude reconnaissance Drone capable of 36 hours continuous flight time
DRONE monitoring and control
HiMAT Remote Cockpit Synthetic Vision Display (Photo: NASA 1984)
Drones Display in Drones control Room
A Bell Eagle Eye, used by the US Coast Guard
The earliest UAV was A. M. Low's "Aerial Target" of 1916.
[1] A number of remote-controlled airplane advances followed, including the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, during and after World War I, including the first scale RPV (Remote Piloted Vehicle), developed by the film star and model airplane enthusiast Reginald Denny in 1935.
[1] More were made in the technology rush during the Second World War; these were used both to train antiaircraft gunners and to fly attack missions. Jet engines were applied after WW2, in such types as the Teledyne Ryan Firebee I of 1951, while companies like Beechcraft also got in the game with their Model 1001 for the United States Navy in 1955.
[1] Nevertheless, they were little more than remote-controlled airplanes until the Vietnam Era.
With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies as seen in the 1980s and 1990s, interest in UAVs grew within the higher echelons of the US military. UAVs were seen to offer the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting machines that can be used without risk to aircrews. Initial generations were primarily surveillance aircraft, but some were fitted with weaponry (such as the MQ-1 Predator, which utilized AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles). An armed UAV is known as an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).
The near future will likely see unmanned aircraft employed, offensively, for bombing and ground attack. As a tool for search and rescue, UAVs can help find humans lost in the wilderness, trapped in collapsed buildings, or adrift at sea. While air-to-air combat will likely remain the last domain of the human pilot, when unmanned fighter jets do come about, they will enjoy the advantage of almost unlimited immunity to G-force effects.
In the future, UAVs will be able to take full advantage of scramjet technology. Today's scramjets, while unmanned, see use only for testing purposes (e.g., NASA X-43A, NASA's Hyper-X scramjet program), but have the potential when developed for combat to out-maneuver even the most experienced pilots.
U.S. military UAV classifications
The modern concept of U.S. military UAVs is to have the various aircraft systems work together in support of personnel on the ground. The integration scheme is described in terms of a "Tier" system, and is used by military planners to designate the various individual aircraft elements in an overall usage plan for integrated operations. The Tiers do not refer to specific models of aircraft, but rather roles for which various models and their manufacturers competed. The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps each has its own tier system, and the two systems are themselves not integrated.
US Air Force tiers
- Tier N/A: Small/Micro UAV. Role filled by BATMAV (Wasp Block III).
- Tier I: Low altitude, long endurance. Role filled by the Gnat 750.
- Tier II: Medium altitude, long endurance (MALE). Role currently filled by the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper.
- Tier II+: High altitude, long endurance conventional UAV (or HALE UAV). Altitude: 60,000 to 65,000 feet (19,800 m), less than 300 knots (560 km/h) airspeed, 3,000-nautical-mile (6,000 km) radius, 24 hour time-on-station capability. Complementary to the Tier III- aircraft. Role currently filled by the RQ-4 Global Hawk.
- Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The RQ-3 DarkStar was originally intended to fulfill this role before it was "terminated."
US Marine Corps tiers
- Tier N/A: Micro UAV. Wasp III fills this role, driven largely by the desire for commonality with the USAF BATMAV.
- Tier I: Role currently filled by the Dragon Eye but all ongoing and future procurement for the Dragon Eye program is going now to the RQ-11B Raven B.
- Tier II: Role currently filled by the ScanEagle and, to some extent, the RQ-2 Pioneer.
- Tier III: For two decades, the role of medium range tactical UAV was filled by the Pioneer UAV. In July 2007, the Marine Corps announced its intention to retire the aging Pioneer fleet and transition to the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System by AAI Corporation. The first Marine Shadow systems have already been delivered, and training for their respective Marine Corps units is underway
U.S. Army tiers
- Tier I: Small UAV. Role filled by the RQ-11A/B Raven.
- Tier II: Short Range Tactical UAV. Role filled by the RQ-7A/B Shadow 200.
- Tier III: Medium Range Tactical UAV. Role currently filled by the RQ-5A / MQ-5A/B Hunter and IGNAT/IGNAT-ER, but transitioning to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) MQ-1C Warrior.
Future Combat Systems (FCS) (U.S. Army) classes
- Class I: For small units. Role to be filled by all new UAV with some similarity to Micro Air Vehicle.
- Class II: For companies. (cancelled.) [3]
- Class III: For battalions. (cancelled.) [4]
- Class IV: For brigades. Role to be filled by the RQ-8A/B / MQ-8B Fire Scout.
UAV functions
UAVs perform a wide variety of functions. The majority of these functions are some form of remote sensing; this is central to the reconnaissance role most UAVs fulfill. Less common UAV functions include interaction and transport.
Remote sensing
UAV remote sensing functions include electromagnetic spectrum sensors, biological sensors, and chemical sensors. A UAV's electromagnetic sensors typically include visual spectrum, infrared, or near infrared cameras as well as radar systems. Other electromagnetic wave detectors such as microwave and ultraviolet spectrum sensors may also be used, but are uncommon. Biological sensors are sensors capable of detecting the airborne presence of various microorganisms and other biological factors. Chemical sensors use laser spectroscopy to analyze the concentrations of each element in the air.
Transport
UAVs can transport goods using various means based on the configuration of the UAV itself. Most payloads are stored in an internal payload bay somewhere in the airframe. For many helicopter configurations, external payloads can be tethered to the bottom of the airframe. With fixed wing UAVs, payloads can also be attached to the airframe, but aerodynamics of the aircraft with the payload must be assessed. For such situations, payloads are often enclosed in aerodynamic pods for transport.
Scientific research
Unmanned aircraft are uniquely capable of penetrating areas which may be too dangerous for piloted craft. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began utilizing the Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system in 2006 as a hurricane hunter. AAI Corporation subsidiary Aerosonde Pty Ltd. of Victoria (Australia), designs and manufactures the 35-pound system, which can fly into a hurricane and communicate near-real-time data directly to the National Hurricane Center in Florida. Beyond the standard barometric pressure and temperature data typically culled from manned hurricane hunters, the Aerosonde system provides measurements far closer to the water’s surface than previously captured. Further applications for unmanned aircraft can be explored once solutions have been developed for their accommodation within national airspace, an issue currently under discussion by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Precision strikes
MQ-1 Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles are now used as platforms for hitting ground targets in sensitive areas. Armed Predators were first used in late 2001 from bases in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, mostly for targeted assassinations inside Afghanistan. Since then, there were several reported cases of such assassinations taking place in Pakistan, this time from Afghan-based Predators. The advantage of using an unmanned vehicle, rather than a manned aircraft in such cases, is to avoid a diplomatic embarrassment should the aircraft be shot down and the pilots captured, since the bombings took place in countries deemed friendly and without the official permission of those countries.
A Predator, based in a neighboring Arab country, was used to kill suspected al-Qa'ida terrorists in Yemen on November 3, 2002. This marked the first use of an armed Predator as an attack aircraft outside of a theater of war such as Afghanistan.
[12]
Search and Rescue
UAVs will likely play an increased role in search and rescue in the United States. This was demonstrated by the successful use of UAVs during the 2008 hurricanes that struck Louisiana and Texas.
For example, Predators, operating between 18,000-29,000 feet above sea level, performed search and rescue and damage assessment. Payloads carried were an optical sensor, (which is a daytime and infra red camera), and a synthetic aperture radar. The Predator's SAR is a sophisticated all-weather sensor capable of providing photographic-like images through clouds, rain or fog, and in daytime or nighttime conditions; all in real-time. A concept of coherent change detection in SAR images allows for exceptional search and rescue ability: photos taken before and after the storm hits are compared and a computer highlights areas of damage.
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Different Types of Drones (Unmaned Aerial Vehicle)
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