Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 70 views

    War Drones

    Uploaded by

    twIz
    UAVs first emerged during WWI but saw greater development and use during WWII as radio-controlled drones for target practice. During the Vietnam War, reconnaissance UAVs were deployed on a large scale for the first time. Since then, UAV technology has advanced, allowing for longer flight times. Modern UAVs have a wide range of military and civilian uses but their most controversial role is for armed surveillance and attacks by countries like the US following 9/11. This has raised ethical questions around civilian casualties from drone strikes. The document provides photos illustrating the history and roles of UAVs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    War Drones

    Uploaded by

    twIz
    70 views13 pages
    UAVs first emerged during WWI but saw greater development and use during WWII as radio-controlled drones for target practice. During the Vietnam War, reconnaissance UAVs were deployed on a large scale for the first time. Since then, UAV technology has advanced, allowing for longer flight times. Modern UAVs have a wide range of military and civilian uses but their most controversial role is for armed surveillance and attacks by countries like the US following 9/11. This has raised ethical questions around civilian casualties from drone strikes. The document provides photos illustrating the history and roles of UAVs.

    Original Description:

    START OF DRONE AGE

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    UAVs first emerged during WWI but saw greater development and use during WWII as radio-controlled drones for target practice. During the Vietnam War, reconnaissance UAVs were deployed on a large scale for the first time. Since then, UAV technology has advanced, allowing for longer flight times. Modern UAVs have a wide range of military and civilian uses but their most controversial role is for armed surveillance and attacks by countries like the US following 9/11. This has raised ethical questions around civilian casualties from drone strikes. The document provides photos illustrating the history and roles of UAVs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    70 views13 pages

    War Drones

    Uploaded by

    twIz
    UAVs first emerged during WWI but saw greater development and use during WWII as radio-controlled drones for target practice. During the Vietnam War, reconnaissance UAVs were deployed on a large scale for the first time. Since then, UAV technology has advanced, allowing for longer flight times. Modern UAVs have a wide range of military and civilian uses but their most controversial role is for armed surveillance and attacks by countries like the US following 9/11. This has raised ethical questions around civilian casualties from drone strikes. The document provides photos illustrating the history and roles of UAVs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 13

    IWM Staff

    Tuesday 30 January 2018


    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are aircraft with no on-board crew or passengers. They can be
    automated ‘drones’ or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). UAV’s can fly for long periods of time
    at a controlled level of speed and height and have a role in many aspects of aviation.
    The first pilotless vehicles were built during the First World War. These early models were
    launched by catapult or flown using radio control. In January 1918, the US Army started
    production of aerial torpedoes. The model that was developed, the Kettering Bug, was flown
    successfully in some tests, but the war ended before it could be further developed.
    During the inter-war period the development and testing of unmanned aircraft continued. In 1935
    the British produced a number of radio-controlled aircraft to be used as targets for training
    purposes. It's thought the term 'drone' started to be used at this time, inspired by the name of one
    of these models, the DH.82B Queen Bee. Radio-controlled drones were also manufactured in
    the United States and used for target practice and training.
    Reconnaissance UAVs were first deployed on a large scale in the Vietnam War. Drones also
    began to be used in a range of new roles, such as acting as decoys in combat, launching missiles
    against fixed targets and dropping leaflets for psychological operations.
    Following the Vietnam War other countries outside of Britain and the United States began to
    explore unmanned aerial technology. New models became more sophisticated, with improved
    endurance and the ability to maintain greater height. In recent years models have been developed
    that use technology such as solar power to tackle the problem of fuelling longer flights.
    Drones now have many functions, ranging from monitoring climate change to carrying out
    search operations after natural disasters, photography, filming, and delivering goods. But their
    most well-known and controversial use is by the military for reconnaissance, surveillance and
    targeted attacks. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States in particular has
    significantly increased its use of drones. They are mostly used for surveillance in areas and
    terrains where troops are unable to safely go. But they are also used as weapons and have been
    credited with killing suspected militants. Their use in current conflicts and over some countries
    has raised questions about the ethics of this kind of weaponry, especially when it results in
    civilian deaths, either due to inaccurate data or because of their proximity to a ‘target’.
    Here are 10 photographs of drones.
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    Prime Minister Winston Churchilland Captain David Margesson, Secretary of State for War,
    watching preparations being made for the launch of a De Havilland Queen Bee seaplane L5984
    from its ramp. The Queen Bee pilotless target drone was a radio-controlled version of the Tiger
    Moth trainer.
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    A remote-controlled drone prototype based on a B-17 Flying Fortress airframe takes off
    from Hilo Naval Air Station in Hawaii 6 August 1946, to fly to Muroc Army Air Field,
    California, remotely controlled by United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) personnel nearby.
    This 2,600-mile journey involved two of these prototypes, taking almost 15 hours and setting a
    new endurance record for remote controlled aircraft.
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    The first Canberra U Mk 10 jet plane which was to be used as a pilotless drone aircraft in the
    Seaslug guided missile trials from HMS Girdle Ness, the Royal Navy’s guided weapons trial
    ship based at Malta, in 1961.
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    A drone of the SDI surveillance drone system, used by the Royal Artillery, is given a pre-launch
    check at Larkhill in Wiltshire, England, May 1962. This was the first of a family of new drones
    acquired by the Royal Artillery in the 1960s to extend observation over the battlefield and to
    locate targets for new long range weapons.
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    Two British soldiers prepare to launch a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) drone from a Bedford
    three-ton truck on exercise in Germany, probably in the early 1980s. The men, kneeling several
    yards away from the vehicle, control the drone through a remote keypad and joystick.
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    A technician serving with a Royal Artillery divisional locating battery checks the launch
    mechanism of a British Army Canadair RPV (Remotely Piloted Vehicle) Midge Surveillance
    Drone. The rocket powered Midge Drone was designed to carry out aerial photo reconnaissance
    on a pre-programmed flight. It was equipped with a single camera loaded with either black and
    white photographic film (daylight missions) or infra-red (night missions).
    See object record
    PHOTOGRAPHS
    A pilotless drone aircraft designed for reconnaissance and artillery spotting used by British
    forces in the Gulf War, 1991.
    See object record

    PHOTOGRAPHS
    A British Watchkeeper UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) at Camp Bastion, the principal
    British base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan during Operation Herrick XVI (H16),
    August 2012. This UAV was operated by 32 Regiment, Royal Artillery for intelligence,
    surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR).
    See object record
    RAF, Waddington, Lincolnshire
    An exterior view of pods at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire from which MQ-9
    Reaper unpiloted aircraft are operated.
    RAF, MQ-9 Reaper, Waddington
    The interior of a pod at RAF Waddington from where the pilot (left) and sensor operator (right)
    fly an MQ-9 Reaper unpiloted aircraft on missions as part of Operation Shader. The Reaper is
    used for surveillance and reconnaissance, but is also armed for airstrikes.
    Pakistan-born, US-based artist Mahwish Chishty is holding her first UK exhibition at IWM
    London. Chishty’s work combines silhouettes of military drones with decorative Pakistani folk
    art patterns to highlight the way in which the presence of foreign drones over Pakistan has
    become a feature of the physical, psychological and cultural environment of the country.

    You might also like