— Ch. 1 · Origins And Early Development —
Unmanned aerial vehicle.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In July 1849, Austrian forces besieging Venice launched approximately 200 incendiary balloons toward the city. This event marked the earliest recorded use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for warfighting. The balloons were released from land and a ship named Vulcano. Wind changes caused most to miss their target, with some drifting back over Austrian lines. A single bomb did fall within the city walls.
The Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo introduced a radio-based control system called Telekino at the Paris Academy of Science in 1903. He used this technology to test airships without risking human life. Significant development began in the 1900s, focusing on providing practice targets for military training. A.M. Low created the Aerial Target in 1916 as the earliest attempt at a powered UAV. Geoffrey de Havilland's monoplane flew under control on the 21st of March 1917 using Low's radio system.
World War II saw rapid expansion in drone usage. Nazi Germany produced various aircraft like the Argus As 292 and the V-1 flying bomb. Reginald Denny started the Radioplane Company in 1940. His models trained antiaircraft gunners and flew attack missions. Over 400 de Havilland 82 Queen Bee aerial targets entered service in 1935. These early machines were little more than remote-controlled airplanes until the Vietnam War.
Military Evolution And Combat Use
In August 1964, the Tonkin Gulf clash initiated America's highly classified UAVs into their first combat missions during the Vietnam War. The Ryan Model 147 and Lockheed D-21 flew over hostile territory while the U.S. Air Force lost about 554 drones to all causes. General George S. Brown stated that the only reason they needed these machines was to avoid needlessly expending men in cockpits. By 1973, the U.S. military confirmed they had flown about 3,435 UAV missions in Southeast Asia.
Israel developed tactical UAVs with reconnaissance cameras during the War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970. These systems successfully returned photos from across the Suez Canal. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel used UAVs as decoys to force opposing forces to waste expensive anti-aircraft missiles. The IAI Scout became the first UAV with real-time surveillance capabilities. This technology helped neutralize Syrian air defenses at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War without losing a single pilot.
The 1991 Gulf War saw many UAVs demonstrate cheaper fighting machines deployable without risk to aircrews. Some carried armaments like the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles launched by the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. By 2013, at least 50 countries used UAVs. China, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, and others designed their own varieties. In April 2024, Iranian Revolutionary Guard groups launched about 300 drones at Israel over a distance of roughly 1,500 kilometers.