The UAV History - Essay Example

UAV history During the civil war in America, a certain inventor came up with an unmanned balloon to carry explosives that could be dropped [1]. However, air currents and unpredictable weather patterns made it difficult to make an estimate of how long to set the balloon's fuse thus the balloon failed to be successfully deployed. World war I resulted in the development and also testing of different radio-controlled unmanned aircraft but none lasted enough to be used before the war ended. The British royal navy developed the queen bee in 1930.

It was one of the primitive radio-controlled UAVs that could navigate at speeds of 160km/h. In World War 2, Nazis developed revenge weapon 1, a UAV that could be used in fighting targets not meant for the military. It could move at a speed of 804km/h, and carry 907 kilos of explosives. In the 1960s and 70s, the US used AQM-34 Ryan to fly more than 34000 surveillance flights. It was a type of UAV that could be launched from a host plane and had operators controlling it within that plane. The US also used lightning bugs a type of UAV that was released from an airborne C-130s for several missions over China and Vietnam.

In the late 1970s and 80s, Israel came up with the scout and pioneer which may be a representative of the modern type of UAV used today. It was capable of transmitting live video with a view of 360 degrees [2]. Due to their small size, these UAVs were cost-effective to produce and difficult to shoot them. The USA acquired them from Israel and used them in the gulf war. In the 20th century, the development of the predator drone saw the UAVs remain on the war front. One example is the MQ-1 predator that was useful in the war front and is still crucial even today.