Research on the Development and Application
of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Kai Qiu
(&) , Chifei Zhou, Yijing Liu, Lanlan Gao, Xianzhou Dong,
and Jiang Cao
Academy of Military Science of the PLA, Beijing 100091, China
q1987k@163.com
Abstract. The new military revolution in the new era is spurring the development of combat means and combat forces to unmanned, intelligent, and
clustered direction and gradually forming new methods of warfare and winning
mechanisms. Unmanned combat platforms represented by unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV), unmanned combat vehicle, unmanned surface vessel, and
unmanned underwater vehicle have gradually become new research areas in
which various military powers are committing to. Among the various unmanned
combat platforms, UAVs achieve the fastest development and have the most
operational applications. This paper gives a brief overview of UAVs and their
applications and focuses on the advantages and problems of UAV and UAV
cluster.
Keywords: Unmanned combat Á Unmanned aerial vehicle Á UAV Á Drone
1 Introduction
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a non-manned aircraft operated by radio remote
control equipment and self-contained program control devices or operated autonomously by the onboard computer completely or intermittently. In the Vietnam War of
the 1960s, UAVs were first used in wars. The American “Fire Bee” unmanned aircraft
carried out reconnaissance missions over Vietnam and obtained accounted for 80% of
the total intelligence, which made people realize UAV’s value. In 1991, during the Gulf
War, more than 200 drones from the USA, Britain, France, Canada, and Israel all
appeared on the battlefield, which provided an important basis for the multinational
forces to control the battlefield situation in real time and evaluate the effects of air
strikes. In 2003, the US military mobilized more than 10 kinds of drones to participate
in the Iraqi battlefield. The Global Hawk carried out several combat missions over
Baghdad and collected more than 3700 images [1].
With the rapid development of military revolution, unmanned combat platforms
represented by drone, unmanned combat vehicle, unmanned surface vessel, and
unmanned underwater vehicle have gradually emerged in military applications, emitting enormous development potential and broad application prospects. The main
functions of unmanned equipment have evolved from past target drones, reconnaissance, etc., to the current functions of reconnaissance, surveillance, communication,
and attack. With the development of artificial intelligence, network, coordination, and
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
Q. Liang et al. (Eds.): Artificial Intelligence in China, LNEE 572, pp. 523–530, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0187-6_62
of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Kai Qiu
(&) , Chifei Zhou, Yijing Liu, Lanlan Gao, Xianzhou Dong,
and Jiang Cao
Academy of Military Science of the PLA, Beijing 100091, China
q1987k@163.com
Abstract. The new military revolution in the new era is spurring the development of combat means and combat forces to unmanned, intelligent, and
clustered direction and gradually forming new methods of warfare and winning
mechanisms. Unmanned combat platforms represented by unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV), unmanned combat vehicle, unmanned surface vessel, and
unmanned underwater vehicle have gradually become new research areas in
which various military powers are committing to. Among the various unmanned
combat platforms, UAVs achieve the fastest development and have the most
operational applications. This paper gives a brief overview of UAVs and their
applications and focuses on the advantages and problems of UAV and UAV
cluster.
Keywords: Unmanned combat Á Unmanned aerial vehicle Á UAV Á Drone
1 Introduction
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a non-manned aircraft operated by radio remote
control equipment and self-contained program control devices or operated autonomously by the onboard computer completely or intermittently. In the Vietnam War of
the 1960s, UAVs were first used in wars. The American “Fire Bee” unmanned aircraft
carried out reconnaissance missions over Vietnam and obtained accounted for 80% of
the total intelligence, which made people realize UAV’s value. In 1991, during the Gulf
War, more than 200 drones from the USA, Britain, France, Canada, and Israel all
appeared on the battlefield, which provided an important basis for the multinational
forces to control the battlefield situation in real time and evaluate the effects of air
strikes. In 2003, the US military mobilized more than 10 kinds of drones to participate
in the Iraqi battlefield. The Global Hawk carried out several combat missions over
Baghdad and collected more than 3700 images [1].
With the rapid development of military revolution, unmanned combat platforms
represented by drone, unmanned combat vehicle, unmanned surface vessel, and
unmanned underwater vehicle have gradually emerged in military applications, emitting enormous development potential and broad application prospects. The main
functions of unmanned equipment have evolved from past target drones, reconnaissance, etc., to the current functions of reconnaissance, surveillance, communication,
and attack. With the development of artificial intelligence, network, coordination, and
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
Q. Liang et al. (Eds.): Artificial Intelligence in China, LNEE 572, pp. 523–530, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0187-6_62