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An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also called a drone, is a self-descriptive term used by
the US military and others to describe the latest
generations of pilotless aircraft. Taken literally, the term could describe anything from kites, through hobbyist radio-controlled aircraft, to cruise
missiles from the V-1 Flying Bomb onwards, but in the military
parlance is restricted to reusable heavier-than-air craft.
Interest in such craft has grown within the higher echelons of the US military, as they offer the possibility of cheaper, more
capable fighting machines that can be used without risk to aircrews. Initial generations have primarily been surveillance aircraft, but some have already been fitted with
weaponry (such as the RQ-1 Predator, which has been fitted with AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles). The military envisions that more
and more roles will be performed by unmanned aircraft, initially bombing and ground attack, with air-to-air combat expected to be
the last domain of the fighter pilot for now. Unmanned fighter jets are known as the Unmanned
Combat Aerial Vehicle or UCAV for short.
U.S. Models:
French Models:
NASA has been sponsoring research into a solar-powered UAV called Helios, which in 2001 reached an
altitude of almost 30 km. Helios broke up and crashed over the Pacific on
26 June 2003.
Commercial interest in non-military UAVs has led to several startups that are designing and selling autonomous aircraft. These
include Rotomotion , Neural Robotics ,
Micropilot and the Free
Software autopilot
project .
The Israeli Air Force plans to procure a large long-range
unmanned air vehicle that resembles a fighter-jet.
The Israeli UAV, named Eitan, sports a wingspan of 26 meters and a takeoff weight of four tons. The state-owned
Israel Aircraft Industries developed the Eitan.
Eitan would be a multi-purpose UAV with automatic takeoff and landing able to locate and destroy mobile ballistic missile
launchers in reconnaissance and attack missions.
See also: UCAV
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