Historical Development on Military Drones

 Author: Dr. Michael Zimmer

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Expanding on Historical Analysis on Military Drones, this article will provide further insight on the design, development, and documentation practices of World War I “Aerial Target”, 1950s-1960s “Cardinal,” and current rotary-style drones. In addition, this assignment will re-examine these three platforms to address: (1) common user characteristics, (2) design development limitations, (3) manufacturing availability, (4) fundamental differences, and (5) platform safety, efficiency, and effectiveness issues.

Common and unique characteristics of the users

The most common and unique characteristics with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is training. Leveraging UAS as a training resource improves an operator flight skill. Training UAS usage have proven to be reliable and allow non-experience operators with airframe fundamental requirements before performing real-world flight. 

Era Design Limitations and Implications

WW1. Prior to the V-1 Flying Bomb, UAS launch was performed through a manual gear launch and recover method. As manual operations were found to be inefficient, designers sought to close the remote-control system limitation gap (Austin, 2010). 

1950s-1960s. Commercial and public UAS usage was minimal as the military found training and combat methods for UAS. As the military has undergone early trial and error, implications surrounded safety and reliability. Because of these limitations it brought about the development of military UAS SOPs. 

Today. Unmanned Aerial System designs have evolved past a front propeller aircraft design and into a popular quad rotary design. A conventual aircraft to rotary design change was made due to UAS cost and size. According to Spires (2020), DJI, a quad rotary design UAS company holds 70%-80% of the United States UAS market share.

Manufacturing and Development Mechanisms

WW1.  Launch systems are often carried out by a sling-shot method as UAS recovery is typically performed through a gilding method. Since electronical and centralize processing units was non-existent during WW1, UAS were mostly large gilders used for military target practice or aircraft torpedo tests (Farah, 2020).  

1950s–1960s. Primitive UAS operational capabilities were commonly operated on a timer-based system. The 1950s-1960s introduced radio system reliability to perform functions on an UAS. In addition, electrical and centralize processing units begin to be integrated into UAS for reliability purposes. 

Today. Modern UAS are equip with sensory features to include navigation, obstacle detection, and aircraft awareness. These features are included into UAS to provide UAS, people, and property safety while limiting operation MISHAP risk. 

Fundamental Differences in Designs

WW1. Unmanned Aerial System usage begin early 20th century. Great Britain and the United States initially used UAS for aerial photography and aircraft target needs. Based on early structural capabilities UAS were limited to uses cases, thus UAS purposes were crafted on minimal designs. 

1950s-1960s. The first wave of payload attachments extending UAS capabilities emerged. Combat and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) prove to be dependable which changed fundamental designs from front propeller aircraft design to a compact rocket shape. 

Today. Compactness with UAS designs have found to be most desired for non-use movement purposes. The size of UAS is primarily based system application features that affects flight range, energy consumption, and payload (Rakha & Gorodetsky, 2018). Furthermore, designing a smaller UAS is made possible because of technical advancements to operator control systems (BusinessInsider.com, 2021).

Safety, Efficiency, and Effectiveness

WW1. Unmanned Aerial Systems sought efficiency as WW1 was a time of initial UAS development. Similar to any new product or service, establishing foundation can be difficult. During this era, UAS developers was unsure what UAS would become as this added to much trail and error to develop an efficient product.

1950s-1960s. During this era, UAS had time to grow and correct from past failures. As the military UAS reflected flight efficiency, combat and ISR application was unproven. From 1955-1959 the military ordered 2200 Cardinals from Beechcraft due to model modifications based on failed and unclear order needs (Goebel, 2011).

Today. The FAA have found UAS to be efficient and effective, yet lacks safety. This is centered on increasing UAS MISHAPs caused from lack in UAS regulation knowledge. Because of this, the FAA have forced its attention on how, where, and when UAS can be operated with hopes to protect people and property. 

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References

Austin, R. (2010). Unmanned aircraft systems: UAVS design, development, and deployment. Hoboken, NJ; Chichester, West Sussex, U.K; Wiley.

BusinessInsider.com. (2021). Drone technology uses and applications for commercial, industrial and military drones in 2021 and the future. Insider Inc. https://www.businessinsider.com/drone-technology-uses-applications

Farah, J. (2020). Target Practice. State of the Sector. Comstock Publishing Inc. https://www.comstocksmag.com/web-only/target-practice

Goebel, G. (2011). BeechMQM-39A / MQM-61A Cardinal. Early US Target Drones. vectorsite.net. https://web.archive.org/web/20110807123337/http://www.vectorsite.net/twuav_01.html#m5

Rakha, T., & Gorodetsky, A. (2018). Review of unmanned aerial system (UAS) applications in the built environment: Towards automated building inspection procedures using drones. Automation in Construction, 93, 252-264. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2018.05.002

Spires, J. (2020). DJI named top commercial drone maker with 70% market share. DroneDJ. https://dronedj.com/2020/10/16/dji-named-top-commercial-drone-maker-with-70-market-share/


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