Unmanned combat aerial vehicle
- History
- By country
- Safety and security
- Ethics and laws
- Civilian casualties
- Political effects
- Psychological effects
- Stand-off attacks
- Wrongful targeting
- Autonomous attacks
- Public opinion
- List of aircraft
- Users
- See also
- Further reading
- References
- External links
An unmanned combat aerial vehicle ( UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircraft ordnance such as , anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and/or Aerial bomb in for . These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy. UCAVs are used for reconnaissance, attacking targets and returning to base; unlike kamikaze drones which are only made to explode on impact, or surveillance drones which are only for gathering intelligence.
Aircraft of this type have no onboard human pilot. As the Radio control, equipment necessary for a human pilot is not needed, resulting in a lower weight and a smaller size than a manned aircraft. Many countries have operational domestic UCAVs, and many more have imported fighter drones or are in the process of developing them.The number of countries that are manufacturing armed drones varies by source. See for example:
History
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel used unarmed U.S. Ryan Firebee target drones to spur Egypt into firing its entire arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles. This mission was accomplished with no injuries to Israeli pilots, who soon exploited the depleted Egyptian defences. In the late 1970s and 80s, Israel developed the IAI Scout and the Pioneer, which represented a shift toward the modern lighter, glider-type model of UAV. Israel pioneered the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for real-time surveillance, electronic warfare, and decoys. The images and radar decoying provided by these UAVs helped Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian in Operation Mole Cricket 19 at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots downed.
In the late 1980s, Iran deployed a drone armed with six RPG-7 rounds in the Iran–Iraq War.
Impressed by Israel's success, the US quickly acquired a number of UAVs, and its Hunter and Pioneer systems are direct derivatives of Israeli models. The first 'UAV war' was the first Persian Gulf War: according to a May 1991 Department of the Navy report: "At least one UAV was airborne at all times during Desert Storm." After the Persian Gulf War successfully demonstrated its utility, global militaries invested widely in the domestic development of combat UAVs. The first "kill" by an American UAV was on October 7, 2001, in Kandahar.
Between 2004 to late 2012, the U.S. has increased its use of drone strikes against targets in Pakistan and elsewhere as part of the War on Terror. In January 2014, it was estimated that 2,400 people had died from U.S. drone strikes in five years. In June 2015, the total death toll of U.S. drone strikes was estimated to exceed 6,000.
In 2020, Turkey became the first country to use UCAVs in a large, coordinated attack on a conventional battlefield when it attacked forces in Syria. They were used to attack enemy positions, to provide cover for ground forces and to scout for artillery. Drones were used extensively in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan's use of cheaper Turkish TB2 drones was seen as crucial to their victory against the Armenian forces.
Drones were also used extensively during the Russo-Ukrainian war. The 2022 conflict was widely described as the first full-scale war featuring the large-scale use of small and commercial-grade UAVs in military settings. Consumer quadcopters and first-person view (FPV) drones, modified with sensors and explosives, were being used for military missions. The affordability and availability of small UAVs have shifted modern warfare and given rise to new offensive and defensive strategies. Usage of small combat drones offers a cost advantage, and their high performance, reliability, and commercial availability for repair parts also contributed to their popularity.
China is known to be developing various "loyal wingman" UCAVs, such as AVIC Dark Sword, which is a concept first revealed in 2006. Stealth UCAV, such as Hongdu GJ-11 unmanned combat aerial vehicles, are designed to be controlled by the Chengdu J-20 fighter, forming manned-unmanned aircraft teams. Other stealth UCAVs include Feihong FH-97 UCAV developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It was designed to suppress air defenses with electronic countermeasures, fly ahead of aircraft to provide early warning, act as an expandable decoy, as well as provide reconnaissance and damage evaluation. Feihong FH-97A, a loyal wingman drone designed to fly alongside the fighter aircraft.
In August and September 2025, China unveiled multiple different types of UCAV and loyal wingmen prototype under development, and the naval variant of the Hongdu GJ-11 UCAV. These Chinese UCAV designs have different wing configerations and engine options, with some large UCAVs aimed to perform air superiority mission independently or collaboratively with manned aircraft.
The Taranis demonstrator will have an MTOW (Maximum Takeoff Weight) of about 8000 kilograms and be of comparable size to the BAE Hawk – making it one of the world's largest UAVs. It will be stealthy, fast, and able to deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets, as well as being capable of defending itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft. The first steel was cut in September 2007 and ground testing started in early 2009. The first flight of the Taranis took place in August 2013 in Woomera, Australia.Farmer, Ben (6 February 2014) Successful test flight for Taranis stealth drone Daily Telegraph, Page 12 The demonstrator will have two internal weapons bays. With the inclusion of "full autonomy" the intention is thus for this platform to be able to "think for itself" for a large part of the mission.
Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems, or J-UCAS, was the name for the joint U.S. Navy/U.S. Air Force unmanned combat air vehicle procurement project. J-UCAS was managed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the J-UCAS program was terminated. The program would have used stealth technologies and allowed UCAVs to be armed with precision-guided weapons such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) or precision miniature munitions, such as the Small-Diameter Bomb, which are used to suppress enemy air defenses. Controllers could have used real-time data sources, including satellites, to plan for and respond to changes on and around the battlefield.
The program was later revitalized into UCAS-D, a United States Navy program designed to develop a carrier-based unmanned aircraft. "Carrier UCAVs: The Return of UCAS" , Defense Industry Daily, 7 February 2010
In a New Year 2011 editorial titled "China's Naval Ambitions", The New York Times editorial board argued that "the Pentagon must accelerate efforts to make American naval forces in Asia less vulnerable to Carrier killer by giving them the means to project their deterrent power from further offshore. Cutting back purchases of the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer (with its deficient missile defense system) was a first step. A bigger one would be to reduce the Navy's reliance on short-range manned strike aircraft like the F-18 and the F-35, in favor of the carrier-launched N-UCAS ...." Editorial , The New York Times, January 1, 2011 (January 2, 2011 p. WK7 NY ed.). Retrieved 2011-01-02.
On 6 January 2011, the DOD announced that this would be one area of additional investment in the 2012 budget request.
The United States Air Force has shifted its UCAV program from medium-range military tactics strike aircraft to long-range . The technology of the Long Range Strike program is based on the Lockheed Martin Polecat demonstrator.
Militant groups during the Syrian civil war have also reportedly used UAVs in attacks, one example being a swarm of drones armed with bombs attacking Russian bases in western Syria in early January 2018.
Starting in the 2020s, Mexican drug cartels began dropping reportedly hundreds of drone-carried bombs targeting both security forces and enemy gangs during turf wars.
On 27 December 2022 North Korea sent five drones over its border with South Korea. One reaching Seoul, all five returned to the North, despite a five-hour chase involving fighter jets and attack helicopters with some 100 rounds being fired. A South Korean KAI KT-1 Woongbi crashed although both crew survived. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (South Korea) released a statement in which it said that while it can stop attack drones, its ability to stop smaller spy drones is "limited". A senior official, Kang Shin-chul, said: "Our military's lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people…actively employ detection devices to spot the enemy's drone from an early stage and aggressively deploy strike assets". The South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has indicated that South Korea will invest in stealthy drones that could penetrate North Korea, with the creation of a new military unit.
The South Korean Defence Ministry announced a new series of anti-drone measures, planning to spend some 560 billion won over the next five years. The money will go towards four new initiatives. One is an airborne laser that will be used to destroy larger drones, whilst a jammer would be used on smaller drones. A new counter drone unit, made up of two squadrons, would also be created. The laser is already in the test phase and is expected to become operational in 2027. The jamming system has been described as "soft kill".
In 2009, the Brookings Institution reported that in the US-led drone attacks in Pakistan, ten civilians died for every militant killed. A former ambassador of Pakistan said that American UAV attacks were turning Pakistani opinion against the United States. Newsweek, 8 July 2009. Anita Kirpalani, "Drone On. Q&A: A former Pakistani diplomat says America's most useful weapon is hurting the cause in his country" Retrieved on 3 August 2009. The website PakistanBodyCount.Org reported 1,065 civilian deaths between 2004 and 2010. According to a 2010 analysis by the New America Foundation 114 UAV-based missile strikes in northwest Pakistan from 2004 killed between 830 and 1,210 individuals, around 550 to 850 of whom were militants. In October 2013, the Pakistani government revealed that since 2008 317 drone strikes had killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians – far less than previous government and independent organization calculations.
In July 2013, former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson said, on a panel at the Aspen Institute's Security Forum, that he felt an emotional reaction upon reading Nasser al-Awlaki's account of how his 16-year-old grandson was killed by a U.S. drone.Michael Isikoff: Ex-Pentagon official has 'heavy heart' over US teen's inadvertent killing by drone
In December 2013, a U.S. drone strike in Radda, capital of Yemen's Bayda province, killed members of a wedding party. [Yemeni] Official: U.S. drone attack in Yemen kills wedding guests – AP, December 12, 2013 The following February, Human Rights Watch published a 28-page report reviewing the strike and its legality, among other things. Titled "A Wedding That Became A Funeral", the report concludes that some (but not necessarily all) of the casualties were civilians, not the intended regional Al-Qaeda targets. The organization demanded US and Yemeni investigations into the attack. In its research, HRW "found no evidence that the individuals taking part in the wedding procession posed an imminent threat to life. In the absence of an armed conflict, killing them would be a violation of international human rights law."
On August 6, 2020, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill to ban sales, transfers, and exports of large armed drones to countries outside of NATO amid concerns that civilians were killed with American-made weapons used by Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. Congress had previously passed a similar measure with bipartisan support, but failed to overcome President Donald Trump's veto.
Professor Shannon E. French, the director of the Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University and a former professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, wonders if the PTSD may be rooted in a suspicion that something else was at stake. According to Professor French, the author of the 2003 book The Code of the Warrior:
On 28 October 2009, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, presented a report to the Third Committee (social, humanitarian and cultural) of the General Assembly arguing that the use of unmanned combat air vehicles for should be regarded as a breach of international law unless the United States can demonstrate appropriate precautions and accountability mechanisms are in place.
In June 2015, forty-five former US military personnel issued a joint appeal to pilots of aerial drones operating in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere urging them to refuse to fly and indicated that their missions "profoundly violate domestic and international laws." They noted that these drone attacks also undermine principles of human rights.
Some leaders worry about the effect drone warfare will have on soldiers' psychology. Keith Shurtleff, an army chaplain at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, worries "that as war becomes safer and easier, as soldiers are removed from the horrors of war and see the enemy not as humans but as blips on a screen, there is very real danger of losing the deterrent that such horrors provide".Cole, Jim and Chris Wright. "Drone Wars UK". January 2010. http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/aboutdrone/ Similar worries surfaced when "smart" bombs began to be used extensively in the Gulf War.
Stanford's ‘Living Under Drones’ researchers, meanwhile, have shown that civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan are reluctant to help those hit by the first strikes because rescuers themselves have often been killed by follow-on drone strikes. Injured relatives in the rubble of the first strike have been known to tell their relatives not to help rescue them because of the frequency of these so-called ‘double-tap’ strikes. People also avoid gathering in groups in visible places. Many children are permanently kept indoors and often no longer attend school.
Writer Mark Bowden has disputed this viewpoint, saying in his The Atlantic article, "But flying a drone, the sees the carnage close-up, in real time—the blood and severed body parts, the arrival of emergency responders, the anguish of friends and family. Often, he’s been watching the people he kills for a long time before pulling the trigger. Drone pilots become familiar with their victims.Dave Philipps. (15 April 2022). "The unseen scars of those who kill via remote control." NY Times website Retrieved 16 April 2022. They see them in the ordinary rhythms of their lives—with their wives and friends, with their children. War by remote control turns out to be intimate and disturbing. Pilots are sometimes shaken."
This assessment is corroborated by a sensor operator's account:
Back in the United States, a combination of "lower-class" status in the military, overwork, and psychological trauma may be taking a mental toll on drone pilots. These psychological, cultural and career issues appear to have led to a shortfall in USAF drone operators, which is seen as a "dead end job".Chatterjee, Pratap (March 2015). Is Drone Warfare Fraying at the Edges? . "Are Pilots Deserting Washington's Remote-Control War? A New Form of War May Be Producing a New Form of Mental Disturbance."
One fatal "error" happened in December 2023, when the Nigerian Army accidentally hit a village in Kaduna State, killing 85 civilians celebrating a Muslim festival. The army said they thought the people were rebels.
Outside America, there is widespread opposition to US drone killings. A July 2014 report found a majority or plurality of respondents in 39 of 44 countries surveyed opposed U.S. drone strikes in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The U.S., Kenya, and Israel were the only countries where at least half the population supported drone strikes. Venezuela was found to be the most anti-drone country, where 92% of respondents disagreed with U.S. drone strikes, followed closely by Jordan, where 90% disagreed; Israel was shown as the most pro-drone, with 65% in favor of U.S. drone strikes and 27% opposed.
The drone strikes conducted by the Malian army have had devastating consequences on the civilian population in the Azawad region. In March 2024, attacks killed 13 civilians, including seven children, in Amasrakad, Gao region, sparking outrage and calls for justice from organizations like Amnesty International. These incidents highlighted the lack of transparency and accountability in drone use, exacerbating local and international tensions.’
Some reconnaissance drones that have armed capability include the CASC CH-92, IAI Eitan and the Ababil-3, HESA Ababil, Hamaseh. Some commercial drones, such as DJI Mavic and Phantom, have been modified to carry light explosives for combat missions in recent wars.
By country
China
Israel
Elbit Hermes 450
Turkey
TAI Aksungur
Bayraktar Kizilelma
TAI Anka-3
United Kingdom
BAE Systems Taranis
United States
J-UCAS
N-UCAS
USAF Hunter-Killer
Multinational
Non-state actors
Safety and security
Counter-UAS
Ethics and laws
Civilian casualties
Israel
United States
Political effects
Psychological effects
If I'm in the field risking and taking a life, there's a sense that I'm putting skin in the game ... I'm taking a risk so it feels more honorable. Someone who kills at a distance—it can make them doubt. Am I truly Honour?
The Missile Technology Control Regime applies to UCAVs.
Stand-off attacks
Wrongful targeting
Autonomous attacks
Public opinion
List of aircraft
Operational
United States General Atomics MQ-1 Predator 1995 United States General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper 2007 United States General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle 2009 China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong 2011 China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong-10 2016 China Chengdu Aerospace CAIG Wing Loong II 2017 China Chengdu Aerospace Wing Loong-III 2022 China Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Harbin BZK-005 2006 China Hongdu Hongdu GJ-11 2019
China Sichuan Tengden Tengden TB-001 2017 Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Anka 2010 Turkey Baykar Bayraktar TB2 2014 Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Aksungur 2019 Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar Akıncı 2021 Turkey Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI Anka-3 2023 Turkey Baykar Bayraktar TB3 2023 Turkey Baykar Defense Bayraktar Kızılelma 2024 Pakistan NESCOM NESCOM Burraq 2016 Pakistan GIDS GIDS Shahpar-2 2021 India DRDO DRDO Ghatak2023
Iran Qods Aviation Qods Mohajer-6 2017 Iran Qods Aviation Qods Mohajer-10 2023 Iran HESA HESA Shahed-129 2012 Iran HESA HESA Shahed-149 Gaza 2022 Iran HESA Shahed Saegheh 2010 Iran IRIAF Kaman 22 2021 Russia Kronshtadt group Kronshtadt Orion 2020 Russia Sukhoi Sukhoi S-70 2024 South Africa Milkor Milkor 380 2023 Israel Elbit Systems Hermes-900 2010 Israel Elbit Systems Hermes-450 1998 Israel IAI IAI Eitan 2007
In development
Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat Australia Made by Boeing Australia. Under flight testing/development. AVIC Dark Sword China Technology demonstrator/testing MD-22 China Hypersonic UCAV, Under development BAE Systems Corax United Kingdom Technology demonstrator BAE Systems Taranis United Kingdom Technology demonstrator Boeing Phantom Ray United States Under development/testing Dassault nEUROn France Experimental Stealth aircraft UCAV DRDO Archer-NG India Under development Eurodrone EU Under development EMC Operations Anaconda United Kingdom Under development/testing CATS Warrior India Under development Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie United States Under development/testing Northrop Grumman X-47A United States Technology demonstrator inc. X-47B / C variants Bayraktar Kızılelma Turkey Under development/testing TAI Anka-3 Turkey Under development/testing Atobá XR Brazil Under development/testing S-70 Okhotnik-B Russia Under development/testing IAIO Qaher-313 Iran Under development/testing Qods Mohajer-7 Iran Under development Qods Mohajer-9 Iran Under development Indonesian Aerospace Elang Hitam Indonesia Under development
Users
See also
Further reading
External links
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