History
First drones
The first recorded use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for military purposes took place in July 1849,[11] with a carrier balloon (the precursor to the aircraft carrier) in the first offensive use of air power in naval aviation.[12][13] Austrian forces besieging Venice attempted to launch some 200 incendiary balloons into the besieged city. The balloons were launched primarily from the ground; some were also launched from the Austrian ship SMS Vulcano. At least one bomb fell in the city; However, because the wind changed after launch, most of the balloons did not reach their target, and some drifted back over the Austrian lines and the Vulcan launch ship.[14][15].
Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo introduced a radio-based control system called "Telekino" at the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1903 with the intention of testing an airship of his own design without risking human lives.[16][17].
The first serious attempts to create UAV or UAV, a widespread name in the military field, as we know them today, began during the development of the First World War, between 1914 and 1918, highlighting the following:[18].
• - 1916: At the end of this year, the “Aerial Target” was built in the United Kingdom by Captain A.H Low, an unmanned aerial vehicle controlled by radio from the ground that was intended to serve as an aerial training target and as a defense against Zeppelins.
• - 1917: In this year what is known as the “Kettering Aerial Torpedo (Kettering Bug)” is developed by Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, with the controls of Elmer Sperry and his son Lawrence Sperry.
Second World War
They were later used during World War II to train anti-aircraft gun operators. However, it was not until the end of the century that UAVs operated by radio control with all the characteristics of autonomy.
UAVs have amply demonstrated their great potential in different scenarios and, especially in the Gulf War and the Bosnian War, their great potential. Regarding the obtaining, handling and transmission of information, thanks to the application of new information protection techniques (electronic warfare, cryptography) it is possible to achieve more secure communications, which are more difficult to detect and interfere with.
Postwar period
After World War II, development continued on vehicles such as the American JB-4") (which used television/radio command guidance), the Australian GAF Jindivik"), and the 1951 Teledyne Ryan") Firebee I, while companies such as Beechcraft offered their model 1001 to the U.S. Navy in 1955. However, they were little more than drones until the Vietnam War. In 1959, the concerned U.S. Air Force Due to the loss of pilots over hostile territory, they began planning for the use of unmanned aircraft. Planning intensified after the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 in 1960. Within days, a high-level unmanned aerial vehicle program began under the code name "Red Wagon." US crews (Ryan Model 147, Ryan AQM-91 Firefly, Lockheed D-21) on their first combat missions of the Vietnam War.[19].
During the War of Attrition (1967-1970) in the Middle East, Israeli intelligence tested the first tactical UAVs installed with reconnaissance cameras, which successfully returned photos from across the Suez Canal. This was the first time that tactical UAVs that could be launched and landed on any short runway (unlike heavier aircraft-based UAVs) were developed and tested in combat.[20]
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel used UAVs as decoys to entice opposing forces to waste expensive anti-aircraft missiles. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, some key people from the team that developed this first UAV joined a small startup that sought to develop UAVs into a commercial product, which was eventually acquired by Tadiran and led to the development of the first Israeli UAV.[21].
In 1973, the US military officially confirmed that it had been using unmanned aerial vehicles in Southeast Asia (Vietnam).[22] More than 5,000 US airmen were killed and more than 1,000 were missing or captured. The USAF 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing flew some 3,435 UAV missions during the war at a cost of about 554 UAVs lost from all causes. In the words of USAF General George S. Brown, Commander of Air Force Systems Command, in 1972, "The only reason we need (UAVs) is because we don't want to unnecessarily waste the man in the cockpit." More Later that year, General John C. Meyer, commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command, declared: "we let the drone do the high-risk flights... the loss rate is high, but we are willing to risk more... they save lives!"
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile batteries in Egypt and Syria caused severe damage to Israeli fighter aircraft.[23][24][25] As a result, Israel developed the IAI Scout as the first UAV with real-time surveillance. The radar imagery and decoys provided by these UAVs helped Israel completely neutralize Syrian air defenses at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots being shot down. In Israel in 1987, unmanned aerial vehicles were first used as a proof of concept for super-agility, controlled flight after stalling in combat flight simulations involving three-dimensional flight control with thrust vectoring and tailless jet steering, based on stealth technology.
modern UAVs
With the maturation and miniaturization of applicable technologies in the 1980s and 1990s, interest in unmanned aerial vehicles increased in the upper echelons of the US military. In the 1990s, the US Department of Defense awarded a contract to AAI Corporation along with the Israeli company Malat. The US Navy purchased AAI's Pioneer UAV which was jointly developed by AAI and Malat. Many of these UAVs entered service in the 1991 Gulf War. UAVs demonstrated the possibility of creating cheaper and more capable combat machines, deployed without risk to crews. The first generations were primarily surveillance aircraft, but some carried weapons, such as the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, which launched AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
CAPECON"), a European Union project for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles, operated from May 1, 2002 to December 31, 2005.
In 2012, the United States Air Force (USAF) employed 7,494 UAVs, or almost one in every three USAF aircraft.[26][27] The Central Intelligence Agency also operated UAVs. In 2013, at least 50 countries used UAVs. China, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Türkiye, among others, designed and built their own varieties. The use of drones has continued to increase. Due to their wide proliferation, there is no complete list of unmanned aerial vehicle systems.
The development of smart technologies and the improvement of electrical power systems have caused a parallel increase in the use of drones for consumer and general aviation activities. As of 2021, quadcopter drones exemplify the widespread popularity of radio-controlled aircraft and hobby toys, however, the use of UAVs in commercial and general aviation is limited by lack of autonomy[clarification needed] and new regulatory environments requiring line-of-sight contact with the pilot.
In 2020, a Kargu 2 drone hunted and attacked a human target in Libya, according to a report by the UN Security Council Group of Experts on Libya, published in March 2021. This may have been the first time that an autonomous killer robot armed with lethal weaponry attacked humans.
Superior drone technology played a role in Azerbaijan's successes in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war against Armenia.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are also used in NASA missions. The Dragonfly spacecraft is being developed, which aims to reach and examine Saturn's moon Titan. Its main objective is to explore the surface, expanding the amount of area to investigate previously seen by the Landers. As an unmanned aerial vehicle, Dragonfly can examine various types of soil. The drone is scheduled to launch in 2027, and it is estimated that it will take about seven more years to reach the Saturn system.
Shark Drones
The national manufacture of Shark drones by Ukraine in 2025 allowed it great advances in the war with Russia by destroying its nevo SV radar, this exploration drone can remain in flight for more than six hours and be manipulated from 100 km away.[1].