#144 in Osprey's New Vanguard series covers the history to date of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones). First envisioned in WWI as a way to carry torpedoes, those early attempts were stymied by a lack of technical capabilities, something that happens often with newly thought projects.

However, it was seen that these vehicles could be programmed prior to flight and were found to be quite useful as targets for gunners. During WWII, it was seen that these vehicles could be used to carry bombs and be remotely controlled by a parent aircraft to a target. The US Navy used one of its fleet of TDN-1s to attack several Japanese targets in the closing year of the war. In Korea, bomb laden remotely controlled Hellcats were used with some success against North Korean fixed structures.

It was Vietnam and the use if Ryan jet powered drones to perform photo reconnaissance where the UAV first found widespread acceptance as a way to get the job done in high threat areas. Some were even equipped with bombs and used to drop these on targets, though the results were not as expected.

It is in reconnaissance that drones found a niche. The Soviets developed intercontinental range drones; huge vehicles that are designed to fly thousands of miles on their missions. In the US, the supersonic D-21 drone, carried by B-52s was developed, but with minimal success, mostly due to an inability to retrieve the film. Satellites took over that mission.

Today, there is a lot of research and effort going into UCAVs. The C is for combat and modern drones, flown from remote locations have been successful in staying aloft for days until needed, then firing off their ordinance (such as Maverick air to surface munitions) before returning to a distant base. These long range vehicles are not inexpensive and as costly as a manned vehicle. Yet they are very much a thing of the future, able to provide a goodly number of missions from strategic to tactical use with some as large as an F-15 and others small enough to be carried by a man.

Author Zaloga along with some superb photographs and the illustrations of Ian Palmer, tells the story of these vehicles from their earliest inception to the current range of vehicles to those being developed for the future. A story that has really just begun and is as fascinating today as it was when first developed. A book I know you will find interesting and informative. Highly recommended along with all of Osprey's titles in this series.

October 2008

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