What The Tech?! Drones

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3 Mar 2025

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Drone Technology would help usher in a new technological shift

In the years following the Second World War, we saw the rapid development of new technology across many sectors. This would cause ongoing changes to things like life expectancy and our overall quality of life. However, some industries would see more development than others and aviation and aerospace would be a front-runner.

In today’s What the Tech, we’ll be exploring the history of unmanned aircraft and looking at how they would develop into the myriad of systems that we see today.

Background

Thinking of drones in today's world more often than not, invokes images of precision systems that in some instances are able to hover, fly and navigate with little intervention.

The concept of unmanned aerial vehicles originated well before aviation and aircraft did though. It would be the mid-1840s when Austria would experiment with payload-carrying balloons. These systems had no control after launch and would be considered an early form of aerial attack.

Later, we’d see similar research in World War 1. With aviation still in its infancy and the purpose-built fighter and bomber aircraft still evolving, much value would be placed on simple unmanned systems that could carry a payload across the front line. This philosophy would eventuate in the design of the Kettering Bug.

This was a reasonably advanced system at the time. Sporting radio controls, biplane wings and good performance from its 40hp, two-stroke engine, the bug cruised at a speed of 50mph and had a max range of around 75 miles.

The kettering bug was the peak of WW1 development. Source: Wikipedia.

It would take further development during World War 2 as well as evolutions in radio control, airframe materials and engine performance before the supporting systems would be in place to provide a launchpad from which to design and test new systems. The V1 and V2 rocket systems would be the peak of the development cycle through this era.

The V-1 would terrify London, but provided the first evolutions in modern unmanned tech. Source: Wikipedia.

The Post War Era

In the final stages of WW2, there was a race between soviet and allied forces to identify key individuals involved with the V1 and V2 rocket systems. These engineers would be key players in the development of defensive, intercontinental ballistic missile systems while also providing important information that could be leveraged for satellites and space travel.

Operation Paperclip would provide key-players to NASA. These individuals would eventually become trusted advisors, meeting with the president and other officials. Source: Wikipedia.

History shows us that it would be the Americans who would be the first to locate Werner Von Braun and his team of scientists. Large volumes of information were also recovered, laying the foundations for the first American space program via NASA.

While many of these spaceflights would be manned, there was also a focus on unmanned systems that provided significant military payload. Much of the early development would focus on rocket-based systems, but eventually, research would move across into atmospheric-based systems as well.

This would provide an explosion of new tech across industries. New, jet-propelled fighter aircraft could test the first generation of air-to-air missiles using drone-type systems based on obsolete WW2 aircraft. Eventually, as stores dried up, we would see the design of unmanned systems from the ground up.

The Jindivik was a rugged, reliable Australian deisgn. Source: Wikipedia.

The Australian-designed Jindivik aircraft would be one such system. Using simple, radio-based controls paired with an autopilot and a single jet engine, Jindivik would provide acceptable high-speed performance as a target and radar calibration system. Designed in the 60s, the system would receive ongoing upgrades through its lifecycle before eventually being retired for more modern systems.

The MQ-9 Reaper would be a key player in the war on terror. Source: Wikipedia.

Modern World

With the evolution of modern technology, drones were seen as a cheap and easy way of providing reconnaissance data over a given area. As technology evolved further, we’d eventually see such systems becoming armed with an assortment of weapons.

The height of this development would come in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the USA. As the American war machine prepared to respond kinetically to the attacks, US unmanned systems were some of the first aircraft to be seen in enemy airspace.

With little in the way of airborne opponents, ground-based forces had little in the way of defensive options as unmanned systems would typically operate out of the envelope of small-arms fire. As such, the development of such systems reached fever-pitch as both performance and range saw substantial improvement throughout this period.

The peak of this would be the RQ-4 Global Hawk system. A jet-powered, high-altitude system, the GlobalHawk provided ridiculous performance in comparison to manned jets.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk provided great performance and range while carrying a large payload. Source: Wikipedia.

The F-14s Tactical Airborne Recon Pod System (TARPS) was used in the early stages of the war, through to the type's retirement in 2006. An F-14 carrying the system would regularly operate at ranges that exceeded 1000 miles without tanker support.

While this was good for a fast fighter system, it was positively anemic compared to the Globalhawk which had an endurance of up to 30 hours for a single sortie and could cover up to 40,000 km2 in a single day. While manned, jet fighters weren’t going anywhere, there was clear value in a well-tested unmanned system that could carry an acceptable payload to range.

The F-14 and it’s TARPS pod would be made redundant due to age and modern systems. Source Wikipedia.

The Global Hawk would be ordered by multiple western companies and be operated at varying levels of success, laying the foundations for the ongoing development of more futuristic and modern designs.

Hobbyists

It’s easy to get lost considering the evolution of larger designs that have military value but the reality is that through the same time frame we’d see the foundations being laid for entire new civilian industries. While hobbyists had always turned to aviation and used small unmanned systems for general experimentation, the electrical boom had much to offer civilian drones.

The Phantom 1 provided the first real large-scale consumer system. Source: Wikipedia.

With GPS being able to be put on to small, low-powered circuit boards and motors providing the foundation for small quad-type aircraft, we’d see the first steps laid for systems like the DJI ones that have become so mainstream. It would be computing power and flight controllers that would provide the final pieces of the puzzle. Small, embedded systems meant that now, hobby builders could build their own systems while those who weren’t electrically minded could simply purchase one off the shelf.

The first generation of DJI systems like the Phantom weren’t without their problems but as future iterations were released, they’d become surprisingly rugged and reliable.

While these started as consumer systems, the commercial world wasn’t oblivious to all that was occurring around it, and DJI wasn’t ignoring them either. Drones would eventually evolve to become more expensive, but even a fully kitted out system like the Matrice would still be far cheaper to acquire and operate than even the smallest Cessna aircraft.

The Matrice carried a great payload and camera system at an affordable price for agencies. Source: Wikipedia.

Eventually, we’d see government agencies like police departments, councils and fire agencies adopt these drops into mainstream services.

Future Designs

As tech evolves, with many systems, we start to see a plateau in the return on investment in features and performance. Small, unmanned drones are not one of these systems. While there’s still much in the way of research regarding large fixed-wing systems, there’s plenty happening in the fields of swarming and autonomous control as well.

Cutting-edge fighter jets like the F-35 Lightning are now able to be paired with wingmen like the Ghostbat system, providing new advancements in the deployment of frontline fighters.

Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghostbat is the first of a new era. Source: Wikipedia

While smaller systems are now able to leverage things like cheap cameras, radio-control and machine learning to implement things like swarm technology and autonomous attacks. This tech is still in the early stages of adoption but there’s no denying that some of the proposed systems sound terrifying.

The military is often the front line for new technology, but drone tech has much to offer the civilian community as well. In the past decade, we’ve seen testing and development of new systems aimed to automate and improve the efficiency of things like delivery systems for parcels and food.

While we are some time away from the proposed flying cars of the Jetsons era, drone technology will continue to progress, providing huge benefits to humans and humanity along the way.

What The Tech is our recurring, twice-monthly piece that looks at the technology that was essential in shaping our modern world.

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