control technology, all kinds of unmanned cluster like “wolves”, “fish groups”, and
“bee colonies” may appear in various combat spaces such as land, sea, air, and sky. The
operational cluster implements a global unmanned cluster attack and defensive operation against the enemy. The National Science Council has predicted: “The core
weapon of the twenty-first century is the unmanned combat system” [2].
Due to the diversity of drones, there are different classification methods for different
considerations: According to the structure of flight platform, it can be divided into
fixed-wing UAVs, rotary-wing UAVs, unmanned airships, wing drones, etc.; classified
by purpose, it can be divided into military drones and civilian drones, of which military
drones are divided into reconnaissance drones, electronic countermeasure drones,
communication relay drones, unmanned fighters, target drones, etc., and civil drones
are divided into inspection/monitoring drones, agricultural drones, meteorological
drones, exploration drones, mapping drones, etc.; according to scale, it can be divided
into micro drones, light drones, small drones, and large drones; classified by activity
radius, it can be divided into super short-range drone, short-range drone, medium-range
drone, and remote drones; according to mission height, it can be divided into super
low-altitude drones, low-altitude drones, medium-altitude drones, high-altitude drones,
and super high-altitude drones.
2 Development of UAVs
As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, the US military considered converting a manned aircraft into a specialized unmanned torpedo attack aircraft. During
World War II, the US military envisioned converting the B-17 and B-29 bombers into
unmanned bombers, but subject to the technical conditions at the time, both programs
ended in failure. It was not until the 1950s that the US military successfully used the
BQM-147 “Fire Bee” unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft in the Vietnam
War. Afterward, many countries competed to follow suit and developed their own
drones, whose functions were mainly based on reconnaissance and surveillance.
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rapid development of electronic
information technology has provided an opportunity for the breakthrough of many key
technologies of drones. In addition to the traditional reconnaissance and surveillance
functions, drones have added new features such as communication and navigation,
electronic countermeasures, and firepower. These combat support functions enable
military experts from all over the world to see the trend of drones transitioning from
performing support tasks to direct participation in the war. According to its operational
requirements and operational effectiveness assessment, the foreign military has made a
number of UAV development plans that are suitable for different regions and
deployment phases. The US military has an unmanned system integrated road map,
Russia has formulated the “National Arms Plan 2018–2025”, the British army has a
development plan of “watchman” drone, and Europe has a development plan of
“neuron” UAV. Among them, the USA has the most complete range of drones, the
highest level of technology, the largest number of services, and the most experienced
use [3, 4].
524
K. Qiu et al.
“bee colonies” may appear in various combat spaces such as land, sea, air, and sky. The
operational cluster implements a global unmanned cluster attack and defensive operation against the enemy. The National Science Council has predicted: “The core
weapon of the twenty-first century is the unmanned combat system” [2].
Due to the diversity of drones, there are different classification methods for different
considerations: According to the structure of flight platform, it can be divided into
fixed-wing UAVs, rotary-wing UAVs, unmanned airships, wing drones, etc.; classified
by purpose, it can be divided into military drones and civilian drones, of which military
drones are divided into reconnaissance drones, electronic countermeasure drones,
communication relay drones, unmanned fighters, target drones, etc., and civil drones
are divided into inspection/monitoring drones, agricultural drones, meteorological
drones, exploration drones, mapping drones, etc.; according to scale, it can be divided
into micro drones, light drones, small drones, and large drones; classified by activity
radius, it can be divided into super short-range drone, short-range drone, medium-range
drone, and remote drones; according to mission height, it can be divided into super
low-altitude drones, low-altitude drones, medium-altitude drones, high-altitude drones,
and super high-altitude drones.
2 Development of UAVs
As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, the US military considered converting a manned aircraft into a specialized unmanned torpedo attack aircraft. During
World War II, the US military envisioned converting the B-17 and B-29 bombers into
unmanned bombers, but subject to the technical conditions at the time, both programs
ended in failure. It was not until the 1950s that the US military successfully used the
BQM-147 “Fire Bee” unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft in the Vietnam
War. Afterward, many countries competed to follow suit and developed their own
drones, whose functions were mainly based on reconnaissance and surveillance.
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rapid development of electronic
information technology has provided an opportunity for the breakthrough of many key
technologies of drones. In addition to the traditional reconnaissance and surveillance
functions, drones have added new features such as communication and navigation,
electronic countermeasures, and firepower. These combat support functions enable
military experts from all over the world to see the trend of drones transitioning from
performing support tasks to direct participation in the war. According to its operational
requirements and operational effectiveness assessment, the foreign military has made a
number of UAV development plans that are suitable for different regions and
deployment phases. The US military has an unmanned system integrated road map,
Russia has formulated the “National Arms Plan 2018–2025”, the British army has a
development plan of “watchman” drone, and Europe has a development plan of
“neuron” UAV. Among them, the USA has the most complete range of drones, the
highest level of technology, the largest number of services, and the most experienced
use [3, 4].
524
K. Qiu et al.