An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications. These include aerial photography, area coverage, precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring, river monitoring, environmental monitoring, weather observation, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling, product deliveries, entertainment, and drone racing.
An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with various levels of autonomy, from remote control to fully autonomous surface vehicles (ASV).
The UMS Skeldar V-200 is a medium-range helicopter and UAV developed by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. The Skeldar can be used for surveillance, intelligence gathering, light cargo transportation, and electronic warfare.
ZALA Aero Group is a Russian company specialising in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development, located in Izhevsk, Russia. ZALA Aero has provided UAV systems for several sectors of the Russian government, including the Ministry of Defence, and has also won contracts to supply UAVs to foreign countries. The company's in-house design and production projects include a variety of systems related to UAV design, manufacture and operation, including autopilots, airframes, mechanical and pneumatic catapults, launchers, payloads and communication technologies. ZALA Aero is the only Russian company producing unmanned helicopters, portable anti-drone EW systems and a VTOL drone.
The DRDO Netra is an Indian, light-weight, autonomous UAV for surveillance and reconnaissance operations. It has been jointly developed by the Research and Development Establishment (R&DE), and IdeaForge, a Mumbai-based private firm.
Lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) are a type of autonomous military system that can independently search for and engage targets based on programmed constraints and descriptions. LAWs are also known as lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), autonomous weapon systems (AWS), robotic weapons or killer robots. LAWs may operate in the air, on land, on water, underwater, or in space. The autonomy of systems as of 2018 was restricted in the sense that a human gives the final command to attack—though there are exceptions with certain "defensive" systems.
Drone warfare is a form of warfare using robots. Robot types include unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned surface vehicles, and ground based drones. The United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Iraq, Italy, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Poland are known to have manufactured operational UCAVs as of 2019.
DreamHammer is a San Diego–based software company that provides advanced drone management software for enterprise customers.
A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, kamikaze drone, or exploding drone, is a kind of aerial weapon with a built-in warhead that is typically designed to loiter around a target area until a target is located, then attack the target by crashing into it. Loitering munitions enable faster reaction times against hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms near the target area and also allow more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or aborted.
The Raytheon Coyote is a small, expendable, unmanned aircraft system built by the Raytheon Company, with the capability of operating in autonomous swarms. It is launched from a sonobuoy canister with the wings deploying in early flight phase.
EDGE Group is an Emirati advanced technology and defence conglomerate comprising 25 companies involved in military and civilian products, and technologies.
Drone Dome is a counter unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) anti-aircraft system developed by Israel-based miltech Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The system was first displayed in 2016, and joins similar protection systems developed by Rafael such as the Iron Dome.
The JARI USV is an uncrewed surface vehicle developed by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), specifically between its No. 716 Research Institute, the Jiangsu Automation Research Institute (JARI), and No. 702 Research Institute, China Ship Scientific Research Centre (CSRRC). The uncrewed warship is designed for potential use for the People's Liberation Army Navy and export customers.
The HAL Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) is an Indian unmanned and manned combat aircraft air teaming system being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The system will consist of a manned fighter aircraft acting as "mothership" of the system and a set of swarming UAVs and UCAVs governed by the mothership aircraft. A twin-seated HAL Tejas is likely to be the mothership aircraft. Various other sub components of the system are currently under development and will be jointly produced by HAL, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Newspace Research & Technologies.
Shield AI is an American aerospace and arms technology company based in San Diego, California. It develops artificial intelligence-powered fighter pilots, drones, and technology for military operations. Its clients include the United States Special Operations Command, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, US Navy and several international militaries.
A loyal wingman is a proposed type of unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) which incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of collaborating with the next generation of crewed combat aircraft, including sixth-generation fighters and bombers such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. Also unlike the conventional UCAV, the loyal wingman[sic] is expected to be capable of surviving on the battlefield but to be significantly lower-cost than a crewed aircraft with similar capabilities. In the US, the concept is known as the collaborative combat aircraft (CCA).
Anduril Industries, Inc. is an American defense technology company that specializes in autonomous systems. It was cofounded in 2017 by inventor and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and others. Anduril aims to sell to the U.S. Department of Defense, including artificial intelligence and robotics. Anduril's major products include unmanned aerial systems (UAS) & counter-UAS (CUAS), semi-portable autonomous surveillance systems, and networked command and control software.
V-BAT is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle originally developed by Martin UAV, now Shield AI.
Malloy Aeronautics is a British company which specialises in the research and development of heavy lift vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Based in Maidenhead, England, the company was founded in 2013 by Chris Malloy and has activities in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. Its products include the T-series of heavy lift drones, which are primarily designed for logistics purposes, for private, commercial, military and government use. In the United States, its products are sold in partnership with SURVICE Engineering. In February 2024, the company was acquired by BAE Systems and merged into its FalconWorks division.
