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An RQ-2 Pioneer, a reconnaissance UAV used by the US military during the Gulf and Iraq Wars.
An RQ-2 Pioneer, a reconnaissance UAV used by the US military during the Gulf and Iraq Wars. The RQ-2 Pioneer is an Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV that has been utilized by the United States Navy, Marine, and Army, deploying The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign
Although most UAVs are fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft designs such as this MQ-8B Fire Scout also exist.
Although most UAVs are fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft designs such as this MQ-8B Fire Scout also exist. Overview Fixed-wing aircraft range from small training and recreational aircraft to Wide-body aircraft and military cargo aircraft. Classes of rotorcraft Helicopter See also Helicopter A helicopter is a rotorcraft whose rotors are driven by the engine(s throughout the flight WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

An unmanned, aerial vehicle (UAV) is an unpiloted aircraft. UAVs can be remote controlled or fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems. UAVs are currently used in a number of military roles, including reconnaissance and attack. Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information They are also used in a small but growing number of civil applications such as firefighting when a human observer would be at risk, police observation of civil disturbances and crime scenes, and reconnaissance support in natural disasters. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for manned aircraft.

There is a wide variety of UAV shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. For the purposes of this article and to distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating engine. specific --->A jet engine is a Reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet of Fluid to A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a Heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating Pistons to convert Cruise missiles are not classed as UAVs, because, like many other guided missiles, the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused, even though it is also unmanned and in some cases remotely guided. A cruise missile is a guided Missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system usually a Jet engine, to allow

The abbreviation UAV has been expanded in some cases to UAVS (unmanned-aircraft vehicle system). The Federal Aviation Administration has adopted the generic class unmanned-aircraft system (UAS) originally introduced by the U.S. Navy to reflect the fact that these are not just aircraft, but systems, including ground stations and other elements. The Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of

Contents

History

Main article: History of unmanned aerial vehicles

The earliest UAV was A. M. Low's "Aerial Target" of 1916. Unmanned aerial vehicles, known variously as UAVs drones and remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs have been a feature of aviation for much of its History, though Professor Archibald Montgomery Low (1888 - September 1956 was an English Astronautics engineer research Physicist and inventor and author [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. The Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane was a project undertaken during World War I to develop an aerial torpedo, a pilotless aircraft capable of carrying explosives World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Model aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary Aircraft, often scaled down versions of full size planes using materials such as balsa Reginald Denny (birth name Reginald Leigh Dugmore) ( 20 November 1891 – 16 June 1967) was an English stage [2] 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. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including 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. The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T Claude Ryan in San Diego California, USA in 1934 WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Hawker Beechcraft The Beech Aircraft Corporation, previously the Beechcraft Division of Raytheon and now a unit of Hawker Beechcraft, is a United [3] Nevertheless, they were little more than remote-controlled airplanes until the Vietnam Era. Vietnam Era is a term used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to classify Veterans of the Vietnam War.

Front view of a MQ-1 Predator (Reno Air Show)
Front view of a MQ-1 Predator (Reno Air Show)

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. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 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). Surveillance aircraft are military Aircraft used for monitoring enemy activity usually carrying no armament WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The AGM-114 Hellfire is a multi-platform multi-target United States modular Missile system An armed UAV is known as an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV). An unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV or "combat drone" is an experimental class of Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs

In the future, it is expected more and more roles will be performed by unmanned aircraft. Bombing and ground attack will be added to the surveillance role. A bomber is a Military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets primarily by dropping Bombs on them Ground-attack aircraft are military aircraft designed to attack targets on the ground and are often deployed as Close air support for and in proximity to their own ground forces Air-to-air combat will likely be the last domain of the human pilot. A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy Aircraft during aerial combat Search and rescue could be performed by UAVs with heat sensors to help find humans lost in the wilderness, trapped in collapsed buildings, or adrift at sea. For the TV series of this title see Search and Rescue (TV series.

UAV classification

Luna X 2000 UAV of the German Army
Luna X 2000 UAV of the German Army
The Mexican UAV S4 Ehécatl in take-off mode
The Mexican UAV S4 Ehécatl in take-off mode

UAVs typically fall into one of six functional categories (although multi-role airframe platforms are becoming more prevalent):

They can also be categorised in terms of range/altitude and the following has been advanced as relevant at such industry events as ParcAberporth Unmanned Systems forum. Luna X 2000 is a German Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV in service with the Bundeswehr ( German Army) The German Army (Deutsches Heer heɐ) is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. An unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV or "combat drone" is an experimental class of Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs ParcAberporth is a technology park created on what was Royal Air Force (RAF station Aberporth, near the village of that name in the county of Ceredigion, Wales

The U. S. military employs a tier system for categorizing its UAVs. The modern concept of United States Department of Defense UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles is to have the various aircraft systems work together in support of personnel on the

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

US Marine Corps tiers

U. S. Army tiers

Future Combat Systems (FCS) (U. Future Combat Systems (FCS is the United States Army 's principal modernization program S. Army) classes

Unmanned-Aircraft System

UAS, or unmanned-aircraft system, is the official U.S. Department of Defense term for an unmanned, aerial vehicle. The United States Department of Defense ( DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government The term was first officially used in the DoD 2005 Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2005–2030. [9] Many people have mistakenly used the term Unmanned 'Aerial' System, or Unmanned 'Air Vehicle' System.

Officially, the term "unmanned, aerial vehicle" was changed to "unmanned-aircraft system" to reflect the fact that these complex systems include ground stations and other elements besides the actual air vehicles. The term UAS, however, is not widely used, as the term UAV has become part of the modern lexicon.

The military role of UASs is growing at unprecedented rates. In 2005, tactical and theater level unmanned aircraft (UA) alone had flown over 100,000 flight hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF is the official name used by the U The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign Rapid advances in technology are enabling more and more capability to be placed on smaller airframes which is spurring a large increase in the number of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) being deployed on the battlefield. The use of SUAS in combat is so new that no formal DoD wide reporting procedures have been established to track SUAS flight hours. As the capabilities grow for all types of UAS, nations continue to subsidize their research and development leading to further advances enabling them to perform a multitude of missions. UAS no longer only perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, although this still remains their predominant type. Their roles have expanded to areas including electronic attack (EA), strike missions, suppression and/or destruction of enemy air defense (SEAD/DEAD), network node or communications relay, combat search and rescue (CSAR), and derivations of these themes. Electronic Countermeasures ( ECM') are a subsection of Electronic warfare which includes any sort of electrical or electronic device designed to trick SEAD (pronounced see-add or seed or Suppression of Enemy Air Defences, also known as " Wild Weasels quot and "Iron Hand" operations in the USA are For the TV series of this title see Search and Rescue (TV series. These UAS range in cost from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars, and the aircraft used in these systems range in size from a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) weighing less than one pound to large aircraft weighing over 40,000 pounds. The term micro air vehicle ( MAV) or micro aerial vehicle refers to a new type of remotely controlled Aircraft ( UAV) that is significantly smaller than similar

UAV functions

UAVs perform a wide variety of functions. The majority of these functions are some form of remote sensing. Remote sensing is the small or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon by the use of either recording or real-time sensing device(s that is not in physical Less common UAV functions include interaction and transport. Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another To create viable new UAV systems, these functions are integrated to allow the UAV to perform complex tasks within its given application.

Remote Sensing

UAV remote sensing functions include electromagnetic spectrum sensors, biological sensors, and chemical sensors. The electromagnetic (EM spectrum is the range of all possible Electromagnetic radiation frequencies A UAV's electromagnetic sensors typically include visual spectrum, infrared, or near infrared cameras as well as radar systems. Infrared ( IR) radiation is Electromagnetic radiation whose Wavelength is longer than that of Visible light, but shorter than that of Infrared ( IR) radiation is Electromagnetic radiation whose Wavelength is longer than that of Visible light, but shorter than that of 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. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS is a type of atomic emission Spectroscopy which utilises a highly energetic Laser pulse as the excitation source A chemical element is a type of Atom that is distinguished by its Atomic number; that is by the number of Protons in its nucleus.

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. History Since 400 AD Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys. With fixed wing UAVs, payloads can also be attached to the airframe, but aerodynamics of the aircraft with the payload must be assessed. Overview Fixed-wing aircraft range from small training and recreational aircraft to Wide-body aircraft and military cargo aircraft. 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. The Aerosonde is a small Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV designed to fly over oceans in order to collect weather data including Temperature, Atmospheric pressure A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous Thunderstorms that produce strong winds and Flooding AAI Corporation subsidiary Aerosonde Pty Ltd. Aerosonde Ltd is an Australian-based developer and manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, including the Aerosonde series 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. The US National Hurricane Center, located at Florida International University in Miami Florida, is the division of National Weather Service Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Beyond the standard barometric pressure and temperature data typically cultivated 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. The Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of

Precision Bombing

MQ-1 Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles are now used as platforms for hitting ground targets in sensitive areas. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The AGM-114 Hellfire is a multi-platform multi-target United States modular Missile system Armed Predators were first used in late 2001 from bases in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, mostly for targeted assassinations inside Afghanistan. AssassiNation is the sixth album by Krisiun, released in 2006 on Century Media. Since then, there were several reported cases in such assassinations taking place in Pakistan, this time from Afghan based Predators. The advantage of using a drone, rather than an 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. [10] [11] [12] [13]

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. [14]

Design and development considerations

UAV design and production is a global activity, with manufacturers all across the world. The United States and Israel were initial pioneers in this technology, and U. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. S. manufacturers have a market share of over 60% in 2006, with U. S. market share due to increase by 5-10% through 2016. [15] Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are the dominant manufacturers in this industry, on the strength of the Global Hawk and Predator/Mariner systems. Northrop Grumman Corporation ( is an Aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. General Atomics is a nuclear physics and Defense contractor headquartered in San Diego California. [15] Israeli and European manufacturers form a second tier due to lower indigenous investments, and the governments of those nations have initiatives to acquire U. S. systems due to higher levels of capability. [15] European market share represented just 4% of global revenue in 2006. [15]

Degree of autonomy

Rear view of a MQ-1 Predator (Reno Air Show)
Rear view of a MQ-1 Predator (Reno Air Show)
UAV monitoring and control at CBP
UAV monitoring and control at CBP
HiMAT Remote Cockpit Synthetic Vision Display (Photo: NASA 1984)
HiMAT Remote Cockpit Synthetic Vision Display (Photo: NASA 1984)

Some early UAVs are called drones because they are no more sophisticated than a simple radio-controlled aircraft controlled by a human pilot (sometimes called the operator) at all times. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The stated mission of the Office of CBP Air and Marine is to protect the American people and critical infrastructure by using an integrated and coordinated air and marine force to More sophisticated versions may have built-in control and/or guidance systems to perform low-level human pilot duties such as speed and flight-path stabilization, and simple prescripted navigation functions such as waypoint following.

From this perspective, most early UAVs are not autonomous at all. In fact, the field of air-vehicle autonomy is a recently emerging field, whose economics is largely driven by the military to develop battle-ready technology. Compared to the manufacturing of UAV flight hardware, the market for autonomy technology is fairly immature and undeveloped. Because of this, autonomy has been and may continue to be the bottleneck for future UAV developments, and the overall value and rate of expansion of the future UAV market could be largely driven by advances to be made in the field of autonomy.

Autonomy technology that is important to UAV development falls under the following categories:

Autonomy is commonly defined as the ability to make decisions without human intervention. Sensor fusion is the combining of Sensory data or data derived from sensory data from disparate sources such that the resulting information is in some sense better Motion planning (aka the "navigation problem" the "piano mover's problem" is a term used in Robotics for the process of detailing a task into atomic To that end, the goal of autonomy is to teach machines to be "smart" and act more like humans. The keen observer may associate this with the development in the field of artificial intelligence made popular in the 1980s and 1990s such as expert systems, neural networks, machine learning, natural language processing, and vision. An expert system is Software that attempts to reproduce the performance of one or more human Experts most commonly in a specific Problem domain, and is Traditionally the term neural network had been used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. Machine learning is a subfield of Artificial intelligence that is concerned with the design and development of Algorithms and techniques that allow computers to "learn" Natural language processing ( NLP) is a subfield of Artificial intelligence and Computational linguistics. However, the mode of technological development in the field of autonomy has mostly followed a bottom-up approach, such as hierarchical control systems[16], and recent advances have been largely driven by the practitioners in the field of control science, not computer science. A Hierarchical control system is a form of Control System in which a set of devices and governing software is arranged in a Hierarchical tree. Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of Engineering and Mathematics, that deals with the behavior of Dynamical systems The desired output Similarly, autonomy has been and probably will continue to be considered an extension of the controls field.

To some extent, the ultimate goal in the development of autonomy technology is to replace the human pilot. It remains to be seen whether future developments of autonomy technology, the perception of the technology, and most importantly, the political climate surrounding the use of such technology, will limit the development and utility of autonomy for UAV applications. Also as a result of this, synthetic vision for piloting has not caught on in the UAV arena as it did with manned aircraft. Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS are a set of technologies that provide pilots with clear and intuitive means of understanding their flying environment NASA utilized synthetic vision for test pilots on the HiMAT program in the early 1980s (see photo), but the advent of more autonomous UAV autopilots, greatly reduced the need for this technology. Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology ( HiMAT) was a NASA -program to develop technologies for future Fighter aircraft.

Interoperable UAV technologies became essential as systems proved their mettle in military operations, taking on tasks too challenging or dangerous for warfighters. NATO addressed the need for commonality through STANAG (Standardization Agreement) 4586. According to a NATO press release, the agreement began the ratification process in 1992. Its goal was to allow allied nations to easily share information obtained from unmanned aircraft through common ground control station technology. STANAG 4586-compliant aircraft are equipped to translate information into standardized message formats; likewise, information received from other compliant aircraft can be transferred into vehicle-specific messaging formats for seamless interoperability. Amendments have since been made to the original agreement, based on expert feedback from the field and an industry panel known as the Custodian Support Team. Edition Two of STANAG 4586 is currently under review. There are many systems available today that comply with STANAG 4586, including products by industry leaders such as AAI Corporation, CDL Systems, and Raytheon, all three of which are members of the Custodian Support Team for this protocol.

Endurance

Because UAVs are not burdened with the physiological limitations of human pilots, they can be designed for maximized on-station times. The maximum flight duration of unmanned, aerial vehicles varies widely. Internal-combustion-engine aircraft endurance depends strongly on the percentage of fuel burned as a fraction of total weight (the Breguet endurance equation), and so is largely independent of aircraft size. For the Grande école formerly known as the Breguet School see ESIEE Louis Charles Breguet ( January 2, 1880 in Solar-electric UAVs hold potential for unlimited flight, a concept championed by the Helios Prototype, which unfortunately was destroyed in a 2003 crash. NASA's Pathfinder, Pathfinder Plus, Centurion and Helios Prototype were an evolutionary series of solar - and Fuel cell System One of the major problems with UAVs is no capability for inflight refuelling. Currently the US Air Force is promoting research that should end in an inflight UAV refueling capability, which should be available by 2010.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to sign a contract on building an UAV which should have an enormous endurance capability of about 5 years. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new Technology The project is entitled "Vulture". The developers are certain neither on the design of the UAV nor on what fuel it should run to be able to stay in air without any maintenance for such a long period of time. [17]

Notable high endurance flights
UAVFlight timeDateNotes
Boeing Condor58 hours, 11 minutes ?The aircraft is currently in the Hiller Aviation Museum, CA. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Hiller Aviation Museum, located in San Carlos California, USA at the San Carlos Airport, is an Aircraft history Museum.

Hiller Aviation Museum reference to the flight

QinetiQ Zephyr Solar Electric54 hoursSeptember 2007QinetiQ press release

New Scientist article

IAI Heron52 hours ?NOVA PBS TV program reference

IAI reference

AC Propulsion Solar Electric48 hours, 11 minutesJune 3, 2005AC Propulsion release describing the flight
MQ-1 Predator40 hours, 5 minutes ?UAV Forum reference

Federation of American Scientists reference

GNAT-75040 hours1992Directory of US Military Rockets and Missiles reference to the flight

UAV Endurance Prehistory reference

TAM-538 hours, 52 minutesAugust 11, 2003Smallest UAV to cross the Atlantic

TAM Homepage

TAM-5 FAQ page

Aerosonde38 hours, 48 minutesMay 3, 2006

Aerosonde release on the flight

I-GNAT38 hours, landed with 10-hour reserve ?General Atomics reference to the flight
RQ-4 Global Hawk30 hours, 24 minutes ?Space Daily story on the flight

RAND Corporation report

Aerosonde "Laima"26 hours, 45 minutesAugust 21, 1998First UAV to cross the Atlantic

Aerosonde Laima page

Seattle Museum of Flight

TIHA (Turkish MALE Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)24 hoursPrototypes: 24 December 2004 Serial Production: To be complete by 2010TIHA Program

Turkish Aerospace Industries UAV Products

Vulture5 years ?A DARPA project - Vulture - The Unmanned Aircraft Able to Stay in the Air for 5 Years

Existing UAV systems

UAVs have been developed and deployed by many countries around the world. The Heron or Machatz-1 is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by the Malat (UAV division of Israel Aircraft Industries. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Spirit of Butts Farm (also known as TAM 5 became the first Model aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean on August 11, 2003. The Aerosonde is a small Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV designed to fly over oceans in order to collect weather data including Temperature, Atmospheric pressure The Northrop Grumman (formerly Ryan Aeronautical) RQ-4 Global Hawk (known as Tier II+ during development is an Unmanned aerial vehicle The Aerosonde is a small Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV designed to fly over oceans in order to collect weather data including Temperature, Atmospheric pressure TIHA, from the Turkish words Türk İnsansız Hava Aracı (Turkish For a list of models by country, see: List of unmanned aerial vehicles

Other information

See also

References

  1. ^ Taylor, A. Miniature UAVs are UAVs ranging from " Micro air vehicles (MAVs" that can be carried by an infantryman to man-portable UAVs that can be carried and launched TIHA, from the Turkish words Türk İnsansız Hava Aracı (Turkish The 82d Aerial Target Squadron is located at Tyndall AFB. This squadron is the only unit left in the USAF to fly the F-4 Phantom II, although they are QF-4C/E/G An aerobot is an aerial robot usually used in the context of an unmanned space probe While work has been done since the 1960s on robot " rovers quot to explore An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV is a Robot which travels underwater Intelligence Collection Management is the process of managing and organizing the collection of intelligence information from various sources The International Aerial Robotics Competition ( IARC) began in 1991 on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and is the longest running university-based ISTAR stands for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance. The Kettering Bug was an aerial torpedo the forerunner of what today is considered a UAV or a Cruise missile. Measurement and Signature Intelligence, or MASINT, refers to intelligence gathering activities that bring together disparate elements that do not fit within the The term micro air vehicle ( MAV) or micro aerial vehicle refers to a new type of remotely controlled Aircraft ( UAV) that is significantly smaller than similar ParcAberporth is a technology park created on what was Royal Air Force (RAF station Aberporth, near the village of that name in the county of Ceredigion, Wales Remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs is the common accepted name for tethered underwater Robots in the offshore industry The UAV Battlelab is a US Air Force flight test and development facility specifically dedicated to developing Unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS is the term introduced by The United States Department of Defense (DoD and adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA to An unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV or "combat drone" is an experimental class of Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs Unmanned ground vehicles ( UGV) are Robotic platforms that are used as an extension of Human capability J. P. Jane's Book of Remotely Piloted Vehicles.
  2. ^ Taylor, A. J. P. Jane's Book of Remotely Piloted Vehicles.
  3. ^ Taylor, A. J. P. Jane's Book of Remotely Piloted Vehicles.
  4. ^ History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  5. ^ Comparison of USAF Tier II, II+ and III- systems
  6. ^ http://www.edwards.af.mil/articles98/docs_html/splash/may98/cover/Tier.htm USAF Tier system
  7. ^ USMC powerpoint presentation of tier system
  8. ^ Detailed description of USMC tier system
  9. ^ http://www.acq.osd.mil/usd/Roadmap%20Final2.pdf#search=%22Dod%20UAS%20Roadmap%202005%22
  10. ^ Fox News
  11. ^ Defense Industry Daily
  12. ^ MSNBC
  13. ^ Globe and Mail
  14. ^ Federation of American Scientists
  15. ^ a b c d "UAVs on the Rise. " Dickerson, L. Aviation Week & Space Technology. Aviation Week & Space Technology, often abbreviated Aviation Week or AW&ST, is a weekly Magazine. January 15, 2007. Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
  16. ^ Shim, D. H, Kim, H. J. , Sastry, S. , Hierarchical Control System Synthesis for Rotorcraft-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
  17. ^ Vulture - The Unmanned Aircraft Able to Stay in the Air for 5 Years
  18. ^ Senator Bill Nelson (January 28, 2004) "New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction", Congressional Record
  19. ^ Lowe, C. For other people named Bill Nelson see Bill Nelson (disambiguation. (December 16, 2003) "Senator: White House Warned of UAV Attack," Defense Tech
  20. ^ Hammond, J. (November 14, 2005) "The U.S. 'intelligence failure' and Iraq's UAVs" The Yirmeyahu Review
  21. ^ Pilotless Warriors Soar To Success, www. cbsnews. com, 25 April 2004. Accessed 21 April 2007.

External links


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