Today there are some 50 U.S. companies, academic institutions, and government organizations developing over 150 UAV designs. Forty of these companies have some 115 of these designs flying, i.e., at least one working prototype built. Fifteen of these companies have 26 models of UAVs in, or ready for, production. The Overview table serves as the table of contents for this section, listing these companies and categorizing each of their UAVs into one of seven classes:
- Tactical - the catch-all for the ubiquitous 50 to 1000 lb deployable air vehicle;
- Endurance - capable of extended duration flight, typically 24 hrs or greater;
- Vertical Takeoff & Landing (VTOL) - self explanatory, typically rotary wing;
- Man Portable - light enough to be back-packed by an individual and launched by hand-throwing or sling-shot mechanism, larger than micro air vehicles;
- Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) - capable of manned or unmanned flight operations, typically an adaptation of a general aviation aircraft;
- Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) - defined as having no dimension larger than 15 cm (6 in);
- Research - developed for specific investigations, typically with no production intent.
In addition, each UAV is coded to indicate its status:
- Production (bold print) - in (COTS) or ready for (NDI) production
- Developmental (standard print) - at least one prototype has flown
- Conceptual (italics) - prototype has yet to fly
- Research - one/few examples built to demonstrate technology