Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs, are becoming quite common in the inventories of the world's armed forces. Technological improvements have allowed UAVs to make a transition from targets and decoys to reconnaissance platforms, artillery spotters, and, eventually, air combat vehicles. The table below provides information on some UAVs in service in the past, present, and future. It is by no means exhaustive (yet).

**Selected UAV Data**
Name/Designation	Manufacturer	Nation	Span (ft.)	Length (ft.)	Max. Weight (lbs.)	Max. Speed (kts.)	Type
Brevel	Eurodrone	France, Germany	11.15	7.41	331	81	Tactical Surveillance
Canard Rotor/Wing	McDonnell Douglas	USA	14	17.25	1,785	375	Recce/Surv.
Crecerelle	Group Sagem	France	10.83	9.02	265	135	Tactical recce
Cypher	Sikorsky	USA	6.5	6.5	300	80	Surv.
D-21	LM Skunk Works	USA	19	43	11,200	Mach 3.5+	Recce/Surv.
DR.3/VR.3	Tupolev	Russia	7.38	6.89	3,100	500	Tactical Recce/Surv
Eagle Eye	Bell, Textron	USA	17.90	15.20	2,000	200	Recce/Surv.
Eye-View	IAI	Israel	13	9.5	230	100+	Recce/Surv.
Exdrone	BAI Aerasystems	USA	8.00	5.25	77	100	EW/Recce
Firebee BQM-34	Ryan	USA	12.11	22.11	2,062	550	Target
Firebee AQM-34L	Teledyne Ryan	USA	13	29	3,200	630	Recce
Fox AT	CAC Systems	France	11.81	9.02	253.5	97 (b)	Recce/Surv.
Gnat 750	General Atomics	USA	35.27	17.40	1,140	60-70 (a)	Recce/Surv/EW
Hermes 450	Silver Arrow	Israel	33.5	20.5	1,000	100+	Under development
Heron	IAI	Israel	54.50	27.80	2,400	120	Long-range Recce/SIGINT
Hunter	IAI	Israel	29.20	22.64	1,600	110	Recce/Surv.
Ka-37	Kamov	Russia	15.75	9.43	551	59	Aerial Photo, SAR
Kettering 'Bug'	Dayton-Wright	USA	14.11	12.6	530	100	Flying Bomb in 1918
Javelin	BAI	USA	8	5.7	20	55	Recce
Lark	Kentron	South Africa	6.89	7.98	254.5	113 (b)	Anti-radar, decoy
Mart MK 11	Altec	France	11.15	10.58	242.5	119	Recce/Surv.
Marula	SAGEM	France	7.55	6.89	297.5	135	Recce/Surv.
Mirach 26	Meteor CAE	Italy	15.52	12.63	410	119	Surv./EW
OQ-2A	Radioplane	USA	13.25	8.75	108	90	AA Target WWII
Outrider	Alliant	USA	11.1	9.32	425	120	Surv.
Pathfinder	AeroVironment	USA	98.40	-	540	31 (b)	Solar-powered Research
Perseus	Aurora Flight	USA	58.73	26.74	2,205	-	Research
Phoenix	GEC-Marconi	UK	18.04	-	386	90	Surv.
Pioneer	Pioneer UAV	USA	16.76	13.98	419	95	Surv.
Pointer D-2	AeroVironment	USA	9.00	6.00	8	43	Close-range Surv.
Predator	General Atomics	USA	48.40	26.70	2,080	60 (a)	Recce
Ranger	Oerlikon-Contraves	Switzerland	18.7	15.1	595	119	Recce/Surv.
Raptor	Scaled Composites	USA	66	25	1,800	247	Theatre ABM
Raven	Flight Refuelling	UK	11.81	10.50	185	110	Recce/Surv.
RPO Midget	TechMent	Sweden	6.56	5.9	99.20	80.8	Recce/Surv./EW
Seamos	Deutsche Aerospace	Germany	20.01	9.35	2,337	90	Maritime Surv.
Searcher	IAI	Israel	25.1	16.7	880	110	Long-endurance Surv.
Seeker	Kentron	South Africa	22.97	14.53	562	120	Recce
Sentinel CL-227	Bombardier, Canadair	Canada	9.19	2.1 (c)	419	77	Recce/Surv./EW
Shadow 200	AAI	USA	12.75	9.0	230	150	Recce/Surv.
Shadow 600	AAI	USA	22.40	15.40	600	115	Recce/EW
Shmel Yak-61	Yakovlev	Russia	10.66	9.12	287	97	Surv./EW
Sperwer	SAGEM	France	13.5	-	100 (d)	135	Tactical Recce/Surv.
Tier II- Global Hawk	Teledyne Ryan	USA	116.2	44.4	22,914	350	Recce/Surv.
Tier III- DarkStar	LM Skunk/Boeing	USA	69	15	8,600	250+	Low-obervable Recce/Surv.
TRA Model 154/ AQM-91A	Teledyne Ryan	USA	47.68	34.2	5,400	440+	Recce
UAOS	ATE	South Africa	16.60	9.45	275.60	108	Surv.
UAV-X1	TAI	Turkey	19.6	13.1	540	120	Short-range Recce/Surv.
W570A	Frontier Systems	USA	160	25	26,000-45,000	Mach 0.7	In development
X-36	McDonnell Douglas/NASA	USA	14.4	18.2	1,270	300+	UCAV Research

(a) Loitering Speed
(b) Cruising Speed
(c) Body Diameter
(d) Payload Capacity

References:

McDaid, H., & Oliver, D. (1997). Smart Weapons. Barnes & Noble: New York.

Gerken-Louis. (1991). UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. American Scientific Corp.: Chula Vista.

Other UAVs and Projects:

AEL Snipe: UK target drone
AEL Sparrowhawk: UK
Aeromot K1AM: Brazil
AIA-63: Argentinian drone
Air Exjam: US
Altair: US uav
Aquila MQM-105: US artillery-spotting uav
AROD: US uav
ASVEC Merlin: UK recce
BAE Canberra U-10: UK target drone
BAE Stabileye: UK
Balloon Bomb: Japanese WWII unmanned bomb carrying balloons
Beech AQM-37: US target drone
Beech MQM-107B: US recce
Beech MQM-109: US uav
Beech MQM-126A: US uav
Biqua: Argentinian drone
Boeing Brave 200: US uav
Boeing Brave 3000: US uav
Boeing Condor: US high-altitude long-range uav
Boeing QB-17: USAF target drone
Boeing QB-47: USAF target drone
Boeing-Canada Robot X: Canadian uav
BTT-3 Banshee: UK multi-purpose drone
CacSystems Aspic: French training, recce, and attack drone family
Canadair CL-289: Canadian derivative of CL-89 (also AN/USD-502)
Canadair CL-89: Canadian "Midge" target drone
Chimango: Argentinian drone
Continental UAV: US commercial
Convair QF-102A and PQM-102A: USAF target drone
Curtis N2C-2: USN radio-controlled aircraft
de Haviland Sea Vixen: RN target drone
Dornier DAR: German anti-radar drone
DR-3: USSR drone
Egrett: German uav
Exdrone BQM-147A: US expendable short-range uav
Fiesler Fi-103 and V-1: German buzz-bomb
Flight Refuelling Falconet: UK target (also called ) ASAT
Flight Refuelling Hornet/Seafly: UK uav
Fuji XJ/AQM-1: Japanese target drone
GEC Machan: UK
General Dynamics QF-106: USAF target drone
Gloster Meteor U-15, U-16: UK target drone
Grumman F6F-5D: USN drone
Grumman F6F-5K: USN drone flying bomb
Grumman F7F-3K: USN target drone
Grumman F8F-2D: USN target drone
Grumman F9F-2KD, -5K: USN target drone
Grumman Stalker: US
Gyrodyne QH-50: USN drone ASW helicopter
HAI Target Drone: Greek target drone (1/6 scale F-16)
IAI/Malat Impact: Israeli 5th generation uav (US-JIMPACS)
IAT MK-105 Flash: German uav
IAT MK-106 Hit: German anti-tank drone
Jindivik M.4A: Australian/UK target drone
LASS Aerostat: US uav surveillance airship system
Lavochkin La-17R: USSR recce uav (KJ-1 in China)
Lockheed QF-104: USAF target drone
Lockheed QF-80: USAF target drone
Martin Marietta AQM-127A: US target drone
Mata Helstar: Israeli mini-helicopter uav
Mazlat Scout: Israeli uav
MBB KDH: German anti-tank drone
MBB/Matra Tucan: German, French uav
MBLE Asmodee: Belgian uav
McDonnell Douglas QF-4: US target drone
McDonnell Douglas R4E-50 Skyeye: Egyptian
Mirach 100: Italy uav
Mirach 150: Italy uav
Mirach 20: Italy recce uav
Mirach 300: Italy target, recce drone
ML Aviation Sprite: UK mini-helicopter uav
Moller, Inc. UAV: US
NAI Chang Kong 1C: Chinese target drone
Naval Aircraft Factory TDR-1: WWII flying bomb
North American QF-100: USAF target drone
North American QF-86F: USAF target drone
Northrop BQM-74C/E Chukar: US
Northrop BQM-74C: US target drone/decoy
Northrop MQM-74C: US recce uav
Northrop NV-144: US recce
Omnipol Sojka III: Czech/Hungarian recce uav
Quiet Air UAV: US backpack system
Radioplane KD4G-1: USN target drone
Roadrunner: German drone
Rockwell HiMat: US research uav
Ryan Model 154: US recce uav
SASS LITE: US uav airship
Short Skeet Mk.2: UK
Tacit Rainbow AGM-136A: USAF ECM drone
Tadiran Mastiff: Israeli uav
Tasuma T-5: UK drone
Teledyne Ryan AQM-81 Firebolt: US rpv
Teledyne Ryan AQM-91A Compass Arrow: US rpv
Teledyne Ryan BQM-111 Firebrand: US rpv
Teledyne Ryan Model 324: Egyptian uav
Teledyne Ryan Model 350: US uav
Teledyne Ryan YQM-98A Compass Cope: US rpv
Topaz: Switzerland training drone
Tupolev Tu-123: USSR supersonic recce uav
Tupolev Tu-141: USSR multi-role uav
Tupolev Tu-143: USSR recce uav
UR-1: USSR drone
Westland Wisp: UK 1970s

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Selected UAV Data

Other UAVs and Projects: