UAV Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles — drones — fly by remote control or on their own: from the Queen Bee target drone of 1935 to the Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk and today's loyal wingmen.
About drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — commonly known as drones — are aircraft without a pilot on board. They are flown by remote control from the ground or fly on their own with a programmed route. Armed drones are called UCAVs (unmanned combat aerial vehicles); large drones that can stay in the air for a whole day are called MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) or HALE (high altitude, long endurance) drones.
Radio-controlled target aircraft were already flown in the 1930s: the de Havilland Queen Bee gave drones their name. The jet-powered Ryan Firebee followed in the 1950s and flew reconnaissance missions over Vietnam. Since the General Atomics Predator of the 1990s drones are used for reconnaissance, combat, air refuelling and as loyal wingmen that fly together with fighter aircraft.
| Drones | Designation | Manufacturer | In service | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| de Havilland Queen Bee“DH.82B” | de Havilland | 1935 | Radio-controlled target aircraft | Retired | ||
| Ryan Firebee“BQM-34” | Ryan Aeronautical | 1951 | Target drone / reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| General Atomics MQ-1 Predator | General Atomics | 1994 | Reconnaissance / armed drone | Retired (USAF) | ||
| IAI Heron“Machatz-1” | Israel Aerospace Industries | 1994 | Reconnaissance drone (MALE) | In service | ||
| Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk | Northrop Grumman | 1998 | High-altitude reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout | Northrop Grumman | 2000 | Unmanned helicopter | In service | ||
| General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper“Predator B” | General Atomics | 2001 | Armed reconnaissance drone (MALE) | In service | ||
| Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel | Lockheed Skunk Works | 2007 | Stealth reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| CAIG Wing Loong“Pterodactyl” | Chengdu Aircraft | 2007 | Armed reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| General Atomics Avenger“Predator C / MQ-20” | General Atomics | 2009 | Jet-powered combat drone | Testing | ||
| BAE Systems Mantis | BAE Systems | 2009 | Armed reconnaissance drone demonstrator | Prototype | ||
| Elbit Hermes 900“Kochav” | Elbit Systems | 2009 | Reconnaissance drone (MALE) | In service | ||
| Guizhou WZ-7 Soaring Dragon“Xianglong” | Guizhou Aviation | 2009 | High-altitude reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| Northrop Grumman X-47B“UCAS-D” | Northrop Grumman | 2011 | Stealth combat drone demonstrator | Museum | ||
| Dassault nEUROn | Dassault Aviation | 2012 | Stealth combat drone demonstrator | Prototype | ||
| BAE Systems Taranis | BAE Systems | 2013 | Stealth combat drone demonstrator | Prototype | ||
| Piaggio P.1HH HammerHead | Piaggio Aerospace | 2013 | Reconnaissance drone (MALE) | Development stopped | ||
| Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword“Lijian” | Hongdu Aviation | 2013 | Stealth combat drone | In service | ||
| Baykar Bayraktar TB2 | Baykar | 2014 | Armed reconnaissance drone | In service | ||
| Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie | Kratos Defense | 2019 | Loyal wingman combat drone | Testing | ||
| Boeing MQ-25 Stingray | Boeing | 2019 | Carrier-based tanker drone | In production | ||
| Baykar Bayraktar Akıncı | Baykar | 2019 | Heavy armed drone | In service | ||
| Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B“Hunter” | Sukhoi | 2019 | Stealth combat drone | Testing | ||
| Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat“Loyal Wingman” | Boeing Australia | 2021 | Loyal wingman combat drone | In production | ||
| Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma | Baykar | 2022 | Jet-powered combat drone | Testing | ||
| Airbus Eurodrone“RPAS” | Airbus / Leonardo / Dassault | Reconnaissance drone (MALE) | In development | |||
| AVIC Baidi B-Type“White Emperor” | AVIC | Sixth-generation concept (crewed / unmanned) | Concept |
No drones found.