Trivia Question: What three well-known Hollywood personalities are
associated with unmanned aviation?
(Answer at end of FAQ page.)

Q: What is a UAV?

A: An 'unmanned aerial vehicle' is a powered aircraft that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide lift, can fly autonomously (by an onboard computer) and/or be piloted remotely (by radio control), and can be recovered for repeated flights. It is an aerial robot. Airships, aerostats, balloons, ballistic and semiballistic missiles, cruise missiles, artillery projectiles, tethered/wire guided aircraft/missiles, and other one-flight, expendable objects are not considered unmanned aircraft.

Q. What countries operate which types of unmanned aircraft systems (UASes)?

A. Some 48 countries (plus NATO) currently own/operate or are planning UASes, some produced indigenously and some acquired from foreign sources. See World Unmanned Aircraft Systems for a tabulation of these countries and their UASes.

Q: How did UAVs get their start?

A: See this extract from "Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" by Laurence Newcome published by AIAA in Sep 2004. This extract was carried in the 29 Sep 03 issue of Defense News.

Q: What, if any, difference is there among the terms drone, RPV, UAV, ROA, RPA, and UAS?

A: The term drone (Websters: "a pilotless airplane or ship controlled by radio signals") was in vogue in the 1940s and 1950s when they were used predominately as aerial targets, giving way to remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) in the Vietnam era to distinguish their new role as reconnaissance assets from that of their target cousins, then evolving to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the 1980's, when interest in them renewed, to show a break from the previous generation technology and to cleanse any political/mental association with Vietnam. With efforts underway to develop rules integrating UAVs into the National Airspace System, and realizing that Federal Aviation Administration rule-making authority applied only to "aircraft," the term remotely operated aircraft (ROA) was coined in 1997 to ensure UA were covered under FAA's statutory language. The U.S. Air Force refers to its Predator UA as "remotely piloted aircraft" because they are unique in having a pilot with a stick and rudder flying them. The FAA (and DoD) adopted the more inclusive term unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in 2004.

Q: What was the first UAV?

A: The Curtiss/Sperry Aerial Torpedo made its first successful flight on 6 Mar 1918 at Copiague, Long Island, NY. The 950-lb UAV flew 1000 yards after being launched by a falling-weight catapult; six were built and several made repeated flights. Subsequently, in Oct 1918, the 530-lb Wright Liberty Eagle (a.k.a. Kettering Bug) made its first successful flight; some 40 were built, with production cut short by the war's end. Both were more specifically the forerunners of today's cruise missiles. The British RAE 1921 Target made the world's first
successful radio controlled flight without a pilot onboard on 3 September 1924, followed just 12 days later on 15 September by a similar accomplishment by a modified U. S. Navy N-9.

Q: What advantages do UAVs offer over manned aircraft?

A: Trite but true, UAVs can perform those missions considered "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for their manned counterparts. Examples include orbiting endlessly over a point for communications relay or jamming (dull), collecting air samples to measure pollution or CW/BW toxins (dirty), and flying reconnaissance over hostile air defenses (dangerous). And while some will still contest it, it is increasingly accepted that UAVs cost less to build (two to five times the weight of the pilot in specialized equipment is needed just to support him, not to mention double, triple, even quadruple redundant systems to ensure his return, not just the aircraft's) and to operate (pilot proficiency flying is eliminated or maintained on cheap semi-scale UAVs, oxygen servicing is eliminated, etc.).

Q: How many different kinds of UAVs are there?

A: In the U.S. alone, over 80 companies (see Vendors/Sales), universities, and government organizations are actively developing one or more of some 200 UAV designs; these are listed in the Vehicles Overview subsection of this website. They are being developed for the reconnaissance (military, scientific, or otherwise) role and do not include their other unmanned aircraft cousins, cruise missiles and target drones. These UAVs can generally be categorized as (1) tactical, (2) endurance, (3) vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), (4) man portable, or hand-launched, (5) optionally piloted vehicles (OPVs), (6) micro air vehicles (MAVs), and (7) research (the UAV equivalent of X-planes); definitions of these categories are also found in the Vehicles Overview subsection.

Q: How many UAVs are in operation today?

A: The U.S. military currently is operating some 2200 large and small UA of over 20 types. Worldwide, there are an estimated 5000 UA in use. Japan leads in commercial UA use, with some 2000 unmanned helicopters and 10,000 licensed operators working in the agricultural industry.

Q: How much is the Pentagon spending on UAVs?

A: In Fiscal Year 2005 (Oct 04-Sep 05), the President's Budget contained $2.166 billion for the U.S. military to develop, procure, and operate UASes. Over the six-year period from FY2006 to FY2011, the Pentagon plans to spend $15 billion on unmanned aircraft, an average of $2.5 billion per year.

Q: What does a UAV cost to buy? to operate?

A: UAVs flying today range in price from $1000 to $26 million. [For comparison, manned aircraft range in price from $20,000 to $500 million.] Examples: The latest production version of the Air Force/Teledyne Ryan RQ-4/Global Hawk costs over $26 million, not including its payload, the Air Force/General Atomics RQ-1/Predator $3.3 million with payload, and the Navy/PUI RQ-2/Pioneer just over $900,000 with payload. Tactical size UAVs are commercially available in the $250,000 range with payload, the Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft's Atlantic-crossing Aerosonde runs $35,000, and MLB offers mini (not micro) UAVs for around $1000 per aircraft. It is a common mistake to focus on the price of the individual aircraft and confuse it for the price of the UAV system, which includes its ground control station and shelter, launching mechanism, and typically three or more additional aircraft. These can make the price of an UAV system two to ten times the price of its individual aircraft. Once bought and deployed, operating costs are reportedly (Aviation Week & Space Technology, 22 Jun 98, p.23) in the hundreds of dollars an hour for Predator and tactical size UAVs. [For comparison, commercial helicopters cost $600-800 an hour and a Boeing 747 airliner some $7400 an hour.]

Q: Who do I contact for permission to fly a UAV?

A: Contact the FAA regional representative for your area.

Q: What is the fastest/highest/biggest/smallest/longest flying UAV?

A:

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Trivia question answer: Actress Hedy Lamarr, with George Antheil, patented (U.S. Patent #2,292,387) the concept of frequency hopping in 1942, a now commonly-used method to ensure security in UA data links. Over 1200 derivative patents in spread spectrum technology trace their origin back to her concept. Captain Ronald Reagan commanded the Hollywood-based unit in World War II that documented the home front industries' war effort. He dispatched a photographer to fellow actor's Reginald Denny's Radioplane factory in 1945, where radio controlled target drones were being produced by the thousands. The photographer took notice of one of Denny's assembly line workers and encouraged her to pursue an acting career. She eventually became known as Marilyn Monroe.