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Posted by Christopher Eger Jul 14, 2008 |
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is in the same stage oif development that the airplane was in around 1912-1913. The Wright Brothers took their rickety powered kit to the air in 1903 and soon afterward air services were popping up to use the dastardly new device for reconnaissance. In 1911 the Italian air force dropped a couple handheld bombs on the heads of some Ottoman Turks in the Libyan desert. Within the next couple of years you saw the Bulgarians doing the same thing in Thrace to the Turks as well as American mercenary pilots in Mexico dropping the same types of improvised explosives on Villa and the gang. World War one took the gloves off and today armed combat aircraft are fielded by nearly 100 countries.
The UAV took to the air in the 1940s experimentally and became mission capable in the 1960s with the Firebee recon drones in Vietnam. In the late 1990s it was thought possible to arm these robotic aircraft. In 2001 a few Predator UAVs were redubbed from RQ-1 to MQ-1 designations when they were equipped with two Hellfire AGM-114 laser-guided anti-tank missiles. In November 2001 they first launched their missile in anger. Today there are five squadrons of both the unarmed and armed versions of this craft in active service. Moving forward with specially designed weapons now is on the horizon. The Griffin missile is in development by Raytheon is a small 42-inch, 45-pound surface to air missile and the Predator can carry up to six of them.
Its only a matter of time before you see this turn the corner and the pilots of today are the joystick operators of tomorrow.