In 1917 the world saw its first unmanned aerial vehicle. By 2017, the drone had reached its centennial. The following is a review of the key developments in military UAV history.
1917: Sperry Aerial Torpedo
At the end of World War I, powered flight was still a recent invention. Only a little over a decade earlier the Wright brothers had completed the first test flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1917 Peter Cooper and Elmer A. Sperry developed the first automatic gyroscopic stabilizer, a device that allowed an aircraft to maintain balanced, forward flight without a pilot. This technology enabled the conversion of a Curtiss N-9 trainer into the first radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle. The Sperry Aerial Torpedo carried a 300 lb (about 136 kg) warhead and could fly 50 miles, but it never saw combat.
1917: Kettering "Bug"
The wooden Kettering Aerial Torpedo, known as the Kettering Bug, could carry 300 lb and cost about $400 to build in 1917. Designed by Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, the aircraft featured removable wings and could be launched from a wheeled cart. The U.S. military placed large orders as World War I drew to a close, but the war ended before the devices were deployed.
1935: DH.82B Queen Bee
Earlier unmanned aircraft could not return to their launch point and therefore were not reusable. The DH.82B Queen Bee introduced the capability to return to base, making unmanned flight more practical. The Queen Bee had a service ceiling of 17,000 ft and a top speed of 100 mph. It served with the Royal Air Force until 1947.
1944: V-1 "Revenge Weapon"
Adolf Hitler sought flying bombs for attacks on civilian targets. In 1944 Fieseler Flugzeugbau designed the V-1, a pilotless flying bomb that could reach speeds up to 470 mph. The Vergeltungswaffe V-1 was designed to strike the British Isles and served as a forerunner to modern cruise missiles. It carried a larger payload than earlier designs, often up to 2,000 lb. More than 900 British civilians were killed by V-1 attacks. Launched from a ramp, the V-1 followed a preprogrammed flight path of about 150 miles.
1955: Ryan Firebee
The Firebee prototype XQ-2, built in 1951 by Ryan Aeronautical, made its first flight four years later. This was the first jet-powered unmanned aircraft and was used primarily by the U.S. Air Force. The Firebee was suitable for intelligence collection and electronic monitoring tasks.
1963: Lockheed M-21 and D-21
The M-21 was a variant of the A-12 Blackbird designed to carry and launch the Lockheed D-21 high-altitude drone. The M-21/D-21 program ran from 1963 to 1968 and remained secret for decades. The M-21 was modified with a second cockpit for the launch operator. These aircraft conducted four reconnaissance missions over the Lop Nur nuclear test site between 1969 and 1971. Further production of the M-21 was halted in 1966 after a collision occurred between a D-21 and its M-21 mothership during launch.
1986: RQ-2A Pioneer
The Pioneer first flew in December 1986 and provided tactical commanders with real-time imagery of specific targets and the battlefield. It performed reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition missions for the U.S. Navy and other forces in Lebanon, Grenada, and Libya during the 1980s. The system was low cost and was among the first UAVs deployed in combat. The Pioneer uses rocket-assisted takeoff, had a launch weight of 416 lb, a top speed of 109 mph, could float on water, and could be recovered by landing on the sea surface.
1994: MQ Predator
General Atomics produced the MQ Predator in 1994. Upgraded Predators could be converted from pure reconnaissance platforms into armed variants capable of engaging targets. More than 125 Predators served with the U.S. Air Force, and six served with the Italian Air Force. The Predator saw its first operational use with the United Nations and NATO in Bosnia in 1995 and later operated in Afghanistan and Iraq, though it is being gradually phased out.
2004: RQ-7B Shadow 200
The RQ-7B Shadow is one of the smallest UAV family members and was used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. The system can detect and identify targets up to 125 km from a tactical command center, improving commanders' observation, command, and maneuver capabilities. By May 2010 the Shadow family had accumulated 500,000 flight hours and was widely used in the Middle East.
2005: Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter
The Fire Scout is an unmanned helicopter capable of autonomous takeoff and landing from any vessel that can support aircraft operations, and it can land at unprepared locations. It was developed by the U.S. military in the early 21st century. The aircraft has been test-fired with 2.75-inch unguided rockets at the Yuma Test Station in Arizona.
2009: RQ-170 Sentinel
The RQ-170 Sentinel, designed and produced by Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, entered service with the U.S. Air Force. First deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the RQ-170 operated at altitudes often reaching 50,000 ft and was nicknamed the "Beast of Kandahar." In May 2011 the RQ-170 participated in the Abbottabad raid in Pakistan that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.
In December 2011 an RQ-170 was captured by Iran and later displayed on Iranian television. The drone's notable features include its wing planform and high operational ceiling of approximately 15,240 m.
2010: RQ-4 Global Hawk
The Global Hawk is a high-altitude long-endurance UAV designed for extended flights. Air Force variants are equipped with integrated sensors for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Initiated in 2001, the Global Hawk program set a milestone in aviation history. It is the first known UAV to cross the Pacific non-stop and was approved to fly in U.S. airspace in July 2006.
Postwar Development and Trends
Early UAV development began after World War I. After World War II many military powers converted retired manned aircraft into target drones, which marked the start of modern unmanned aviation. Advances in electronics increased the importance of UAVs for reconnaissance tasks. During the Vietnam War the United States used large numbers of drones to surveil high-value or well-defended targets. In 1982 Israel Aerospace Industries pioneered UAV use for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, tracking, and communications. During the 1991 Gulf War the U.S. employed small decoy UAVs designed to spoof radar systems, a tactic later adopted by other countries. The rapid development and widespread use of UAVs accelerated after the Gulf War. Western states, led by the United States, invested in UAV research and development, improving endurance, image and digital transmission rates, and integrating advanced autopilot systems. Some UAVs are now weaponized, such as the U.S. MQ-1 Predator fitted with AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, expanding UAV roles to bombing, ground attack, and air combat.
China's Early UAV Development
UAV development in China began in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually producing systems such as the Chang Kong-1 target drone series. Notably, the Chang Kong-1, a large jet radio-controlled subsonic target aircraft, was later adapted for nuclear test sampling and completed a cloud-sampling mission for a nuclear test in 1977.
Future Trends
Key development directions include:
- Shift from low-altitude, short-endurance platforms to high-altitude, long-endurance systems. Older UAVs had limited loiter time and low operating ceilings, producing coverage gaps. In response, programs have emerged to field ultra-high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs.
- Stealth and signature-reduction technologies. To counter increasingly capable ground air defenses, developers are applying composite materials, radar-absorbent materials, low-noise engines, infrared signature reduction techniques, special anti-infrared coatings and fuel additives, reduction of surface gaps to minimize radar returns, and adaptive surface coatings to match background colors.
- Transition from tactical real-time reconnaissance toward airborne early warning roles. Some military planners foresee future aerial reconnaissance systems being primarily UAV-based, with unmanned early warning aircraft potentially replacing manned platforms such as the E-3 and E-8.
- Development of air-to-air combat capabilities for UAVs. Attack-oriented unmanned systems are an important direction. Because UAVs can be forward-deployed, they could intercept and destroy incoming missiles at greater distances from defended assets, addressing limitations of short-reaction interceptors like Patriot or S-300 systems.
