UAV-Unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a navigator, or pilot (in military UAVs called a Combat Systems Officer on UCAVs) on the ground or in another vehicle.

There are a wide variety of drone shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but autonomous control is increasingly being employed.

They are predominantly deployed for military applications, but also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as firefighting and nonmilitary security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too 'dull, dirty, or dangerous' for manned aircraft.

Classification

Although most UAVs are fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft designs (i.e., RUAVs) such as this MQ-8B Fire Scout are also used.

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

• Target and decoy – providing ground and aerial gunnery a target that simulates an enemy aircraft or missile
• Reconnaissance – providing battlefield intelligence
• Combat – providing attack capability for high-risk missions (see Unmanned combat air vehicle)
• Logistics – UAVs specifically designed for cargo and logistics operation
• Research and development – used to further develop UAV technologies to be integrated into field deployed UAV aircraft
• Civil and Commercial UAVs – UAVs specifically designed for civil and commercial applications

Schiebel S-100 fitted with a Lightweight Multirole Missile

They can also be categorised in terms of range/altitude and the following has been advanced as relevant at such industry events as ParcAberporthUnmanned Systems forum:

• Handheld 2,000 ft (600 m) altitude, about 2 km range
• Close 5,000 ft (1,500 m) altitude, up to 10 km range

• NATO type 10,000 ft (3,000 m) altitude, up to 50 km range
• Tactical 18,000 ft (5,500 m) altitude, about 160 km range
• MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) up to 30,000 ft (9,000 m) and range over 200 km
• HALE (high altitude, long endurance) over 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and indefinite range
• HYPERSONIC high-speed, supersonic (Mach 1–5) or hypersonic (Mach 5+) 50,000 ft (15,200 m) or suborbital altitude, range over 200 km
• ORBITAL low earth orbit (Mach 25+)
• CIS Lunar Earth-Moon transfer
• CACGS Computer Assisted Carrier Guidance System for UAVs

The United States military employs a tier system for categorizing its UAVs.

UAV Types

Target and decoy - providing ground and aerial gunnery a target that simulates an enemy aircraft or missile

Reconnaissance - providing battlefield intelligence

Combat - providing attack capability for high-risk missions (see Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle)

Research and development - used to further develop UAV technologies to be integrated into field deployed UAV aircraft

Civil and Commercial UAVs - UAVs specifically designed for civil and commercial applications.

UAV 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. Solar electric UAVs hold the potential for unlimited flight, a concept championed by the Helios Prototype, which unfortunately was destroyed in a 2003 crash.

While UAVs receive only a fraction of the amounts spent on fighter aircraft and tactical missiles, large U.S. requirements spurred by the War on Terror have changed the picture. Throw in aggressive submarine and ship-launched UAV programs, an ambitious future UAV roadmap, and the high cost of advanced systems like the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV (whose production over the next 10 years could reach $3.5 billion and exceed 200 units) and J-UCAS, and the global forecast ends up getting a significant boost.

Many people have mistakenly used the term Unmanned 'Aerial' System, or Unmanned 'Air Vehicle' System instead of Unmanned Aircraft System.

UAV......

Altair		Global Hawk		X47-A		Prowler II
X45-A UCAV	Fire Scout		Predator A		Predator B
ER/MP UAS		I-GNAT		Mariner		Army I-GNAT ER