20 Facts About UAVs

UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system, which includes adding a ground-based controller and a system of communications with the UAV.

UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries.

However missiles with warheads are not considered UAVs because the vehicle itself is a munition.

An example of classification based on the composite criteria is U S Military's unmanned aerial systems classification of UAVs based on weight, maximum altitude and speed of the UAV component.

The images and radar decoys provided by these UAVs helped Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian air defenses at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots downed.

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In Israel in 1987, UAVs were first used as proof-of-concept of super-agility, post-stall controlled flight in combat-flight simulations that involved tailless, stealth-technology-based, three-dimensional thrust vectoring flight-control, and jet-steering.

UAVs demonstrated the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting-machines, deployable without risk to aircrews.

Some UAVs carry payloads that weigh considerably less than an adult human, and as a result, can be considerably smaller.

Small civilian UAVs have no life-critical systems, and can thus be built out of lighter but less sturdy materials and shapes, and can use less robustly tested electronic control systems.

Sub-1g microUAVs inspired by flies, albeit using a power tether, have been able to "land" on vertical surfaces.

System hardware for small UAVs is often called the flight controller, flight controller board or autopilot.

UAVs are real-time systems that require rapid response to changing sensor data.

Micro air vehicles endurance is so far best achieved with flapping-wing UAVs, followed by planes and multirotors standing last, due to lower Reynolds number.

Electric UAVs powered by microwave power transmission or laser power beaming are other potential endurance solutions.

Besides, dynamic assessment of flight envelope allows damage-resilient UAVs, using non-linear analysis with ad hoc designed loops or neural networks.

UAVs are used for reconnaissance, attack, demining, and target practice.

Use of UAVs is being investigated to help detect and fight wildfires, whether through observation or launching pyrotechnic devices to start backfires.

UAVs are now widely used to survey wildlife such as nesting seabirds, seals and even wombat burrows.

UAVs could be loaded with dangerous payloads, and crashed into vulnerable targets.

Malicious use of UAVs has led to the development of counter unmanned air system technologies.