The Evolution of Drones: From Aerial Targets to Eyes in the Sky, And Bombs on the Ground

This is the second instalment of 'Evolution of the Drone Threat'. Looking for Part 1?

Check it out here!

Radioplane Target Drones (the ones Marilyn Monroe built)

What started out as a hobby shop for model aircraft in 1934; Reginald Denny Industries soon began manufacturing target drones for the US Army under its new name, the Radioplane Company. And not just a few; almost 15,000 Radioplane drones were produced for the Army during WWII. 

They were simple aircraft, much like an r/c hobby plane, with a 3.7m wingspan and weighing 47kg. They were launched by catapult, and once in the air, they could fly for an hour with a max speed of around 137km/hr. They had no landing gear, and if they managed to survive target practice, they would be recovered by parachute.

And here's an interesting fact for your pub quiz: in 1944 an Army photographer was taking pictures in the Radioplane factory and thought one of the workers, Norma Dougherty, had model potential. Norma quit working at the factory soon after to start her modelling career and promptly changed her name to; (you guessed it) Marilyn Monroe.

The Ryan Firebee Jet-Powered Aerial Target

In 1948 the US Air Force awarded Ryan Aeronautics a contract to produce a jet-powered aerial target, as they needed faster targets to practice on. The first Firebee flight took place in 1951. It had a wingspan of around 4m, weighed almost 1000kg and could fly up to 1000km/h!

This target drone was so successful that variants of it are still in service today. And as the US was facing mounting aircraft losses during the Vietnam War, the highly successful Firebee drones became interesting for a whole new purpose.

Target Aircraft Turned Surveillance Drone

As test flights had proved that Firebee drones could provide covert surveillance, a new version of the aircraft was produced and put into service in Vietnam, significantly reducing the risk to personnel during surveillance missions.

And so from 1964 to 1975, over 1,000 Ryan Firebees flew more than 34,000 operational surveillance missions over Southeast Asia.

They were deployed from Japan, South Vietnam and Thailand, and flew daytime and nighttime surveillance, leaflet-dropping missions, and surface-to-air missile radar detection over North Vietnam and southeast China.

The surveillance Firebees were air-launched and controlled from DC-130 Hercules aircraft. After a mission, the Firebee UAVs were directed to a safe recovery area, where they deployed their parachute. A helicopter would then come and pick them up.

The Firebee was extremely reliable; 83% of the Firebees flown during the Vietnam War returned to fly another day. 

IAI Scout

In 1978, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) built Scout; a piston-engined fibreglass aircraft with a 5m wingspan. The fibreglass frame had a very low radar signature, which, together with the UAV's small size, made it almost impossible to shoot down. The inexpensive Scout UAV could transmit real-time video images through a television camera in its central turret.

The Scout really came into its own in 1982, during the Bekaa Valley conflict between Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel famously used the Scouts to locate Syrian missile sites and to bait the Syrians into activating their radars. That gave the radar positions away and allowed Israeli bombers to destroy 90% of all Syrian missile sites, allowing Israel to fly unchallenged in the skies.

RQ-2 Pioneer

After observing Israel's success with their new light surveillance UAVs, the U.S. Navy, Marines, and Army acquired more than 20 of Israel's new Pioneer drones in 1986. The US versions were developed jointly by the Israeli IAI and the American AAI Corporation. These drones became the first small, inexpensive UAVs in the modern American military forces.

The 5m wingspan, rocket-boosted Pioneer, takes off from a makeshift runway on land or an aircraft carrier at sea. The small drones saw significant action in the Gulf War, where they flew a total of 533 surveillance sorties, and later in Bosnia. 175 Pioneers were delivered in total, and 35 are still in service today. 

The USAF designation RQ-2 means Reconnaissance (R), UAV (Q), with '2' marking the Pioneer as the second in its series of reconnaissance UAVs.

MQ-1 Predator

The MQ-1 Predator was developed for aerial reconnaissance and forward observation roles in the early 90's, carrying cameras and other sensors. A remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics; its main users were the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The 'M' in MQ-1 mark the aircraft as having a multi-mission role. For reconnaissance, observation, and bombing, for example.

It was modified and upgraded to fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions, and is controlled via satellite link. 

After 2001, the RQ-1 Predator became the primary remotely piloted aircraft used for offensive operations by both the USAF and the CIA in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And it remains a widely controversial aircraft today.

RQ-4 Global Hawk

Global Hawk was needed so badly by US Forces that prototypes were rushed out to Afghanistan at the start of the war in 2001. Global Hawk provides a broad overview and systematic surveillance using high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and long-range electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors.

Global Hawk can loiter over target areas for a long time and can survey as much as 100,000 km² a day. That's an area more than twice the size of the Netherlands!

With its 40m wingspan, Global Hawk is designed to take off from a base in the US, fly autonomously to a country of interest, collect and transmit surveillance data at high altitude, and then return to its base again. And all without refuelling. There are more than 35 Global Hawks in service today.

RQ-11 Raven

The hugely successful Raven is a small (1.4m wingspan) and lightweight (2kg) hand-launched unmanned air vehicle.

It's designed for rapid deployment and high-mobility for mostly military operations, like low-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. Raven can be either manually operated or programmed for autonomous operation. And it has a flight time of 80 minutes with an effective range about 10km. It even lands by itself.

Raven provides forward deployed units with real-time, up-to-date and over-the-horizon views, without having to put themselves in harm's way. It delivers real-time colour or infra-red video via three cameras in the nose section.

The US manufacturer of the Raven, Aerovironment, Inc., claims Raven to be the most widely used UAS in the world today, with over 20,000 units sold.

MQ-9 Reaper

The MQ-9 Reaper is a larger and more heavily armed version of the MQ-1 Predator. And it's often referred to as a hunter-killer drone. Its primary use is for attacking time-sensitive targets, but it's also used for ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance).

As a sure sign of the changing times, in 2008, the New York Air National Guard 174th Attack Wing became the first fighter unit to transition to entirely unmanned combat, exchanging their F-16 cockpits for air-conditioned trailers in the desert, where they remotely piloted MQ-9 Reapers.

If this sounds familiar, it might be because you watched the movie based on the transition, starring Ethan Hawke; The Good Kill.

Black Hornet

The most recent drone on our list is also the smallest. A nano-drone; the Black Hornet is specifically designed for dismounted soldiers and provides reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition capabilities.

168mm long, and weighing less than 33 grams; it has a 2km range and can withstand gusts of up to 20 knots. And it can be flown indoors too.

The Black Hornet has a flight time of 25 mins, equal to its battery charge time. So when the nano-UAV runs out of power the other battery can be charged and ready to go, getting it back in the air with minimal downtime. What makes this drone so special, is that it's so small, light and quiet, you wouldn't even know it was there.

Want to read more about the evolution of drones? Here's 'Evolution of the Drone Threat: Part 3 - Rise of the Consumer Drone'!