The AAI RQ-7 Shadow is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the United States Army, Australian Army, Swedish Army, Turkish Air Force and Italian Army for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. Launched from a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult, it is recovered with the aid of arresting gear similar to jets on an aircraft carrier. Its gimbal-mounted, digitally stabilized, liquid nitrogen-cooled electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera relays video in real time via a C-band line-of-sight data link to the ground control station (GCS).
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. 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, precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring, river monitoring, environmental monitoring, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling, product deliveries, entertainment, and drone racing.
AeroVironment, Inc. is an American defense contractor headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that designs and manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Paul B. MacCready Jr., a designer of human-powered aircraft, founded the company in 1971. The company is best known for its lightweight human-powered and solar-powered vehicles. The company is the US military's top supplier of small drones —notably the Raven, Switchblade, Wasp and Puma models.
An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground and without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it may be inconvenient, dangerous, or impossible to have a human operator present. Generally, the vehicle will have a set of sensors to observe the environment, and will either autonomously make decisions about its behavior or pass the information to a human operator at a different location who will control the vehicle through teleoperation.
The Yakovlev Pchela-1T is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufactured by the Russian Yakovlev Design Bureau. Its primary use is for surveillance and observation in battlefield environments with downlinked video. Other implementations and uses include target designation and as a training target.
A miniature UAV, small UAV (SUAV), or drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to be man-portable. Smallest UAVs are called micro air vehicle.
The Kettering Bug was an experimental unmanned aerial torpedo, a forerunner of present-day cruise missiles. It was capable of striking ground targets up to 75 miles (121 km) from its launch point, while traveling at speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). The Bug's costly design and operation inspired Dr. Henry W. Walden to create a rocket that would allow a pilot to control the rocket after launch with the use of radio waves. The British radio controlled weapons of 1917 were secret at this time. These designs were forerunners of modern-day missiles.
The M80 Stiletto is an American prototype naval ship using advanced stealth technologies. The M80 was designed by the M Ship Company then built by Knight and Carver, as an experimental testbed ship for The Pentagon’s Office of Force Transformation. It is notable for its innovative pentamaran hull design and advanced carbon fiber composite construction.
The Radioplane OQ-2 was the first mass-produced UAV or drone in the United States, manufactured by the Radioplane Company. A follow-on version, the OQ-3, became the most widely used target drone in US service, with over 9,400 being built during World War II.
Aeronautics Ltd. is an Israeli company specializing in the manufacturing of Unmanned Aerial Systems for military uses. Since its establishment in 1997, the company has sold its products to more than 20 defense, military and homeland security customers in 15 countries. Its headquarters are in Yavne, Israel.
The Northrop Grumman Bat is a medium-altitude unmanned air vehicle originally developed for use by the United States Armed Forces. Designed primarily as an intelligence "ISR" gathering tool, the Bat features 30 lb (14 kg) payload capacity that is unmatched in a 10 ft (3.0 m) wing span.
Integrated Dynamics is a private company in Pakistan that designs, manufactures and exports various types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). ID also provides consultancy and turn-key project commissioning for UAV systems.
The Elbit Systems Skylark I and Skylark II are miniature UAVs developed by Elbit Systems. Initial models of the Skylark entered service in 2008.
The Falco is a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed and produced by Selex ES. The UAV is designed to be a medium-altitude, medium-endurance surveillance platform capable of carrying a range of payloads, including several types of high-resolution sensors. A larger variant, the Falco EVO, is capable of carrying larger payloads is also available. Neither system is designed to carry weapons, The launch customer, Pakistan, reportedly wanted the Falco armed, a request that Italy rejected.
The AeroVironment Wasp III Small Unmanned Aircraft System is a miniature UAV developed for United States Air Force special operations to provide a small, light-weight vehicle to provide beyond-line-of-sight situation awareness. The aircraft is equipped with two on-board cameras to provide real-time intelligence to its operators. It is also equipped with GPS and an Inertial Navigation System enabling it to operate autonomously from takeoff to recovery. It was designed by AeroVironment Inc., and was first added to the Air Force inventory in 2007. There are two Wasp variants: the traditional version that lands on land, and a version that lands into the sea or fresh water. The Air Force accepted the Wasp AE in late May 2012, and the U.S. Marine Corps revealed in January 2013 that they had ordered the Wasp AE. The Wasp AE is designated as the RQ-12A.
Aeryon Scout is a small reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was designed and built by Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The vehicle was developed between 2007 and 2009 and produced from 2009-2015. Production has been completed and it is no longer advertised for sale on the company website.
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.
The Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) was a United States Navy program to develop an autonomous carrier-based unmanned combat aerial vehicle providing an unmanned intelligence and strike asset to the fleet. After debate over whether the UCLASS should primarily focus on stealthy bombing or scouting, the Pentagon instead changed the program entirely into the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System (CBARS) to create a UAV for aerial refueling duties to extend the range of manned fighters, which led to the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray.
The Wing Loong-10 is a series of unmanned aerial vehicles of the High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) type, featuring some stealth characteristics. As of 2017, it is being developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for reconnaissance and precision strike missions.
