What About Them Drones?

What About Them Drones?

What is a drone? A drone- or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), is a pilotless plane that can be flown by remote control or can navigate a preprogrammed route all on its own (Palermo, 2013).

The History of Drones

With all the media hype in recent news, many would assume that their invention is fairly new. Truth is, drones have been around for quite some time. They have been part of military technology that dates back to World War I. They were first invented when U.S. and the U.K started prototypes for radio-controlled aircraft that could deploy aerial torpedoes to marine targets (Palermo, 2013). However, during years of peace leading up to World War II they were used for training purposes only. In the 1930’s, the U.S. Navy and Army made their first UAV purchase, the OQ-1, OQ-2 and TDD-1 target drones. To the military, these decked out birds are an inexpensive way to practice flight tactics and test other advanced machinery (Palermo, 2013).

In the 1950’s, the trend evolved and the first battleship drones that were equipped with autopilot and long range reconnaissance missiles, as well as stealth technology became a new trend in military technology (Palermo, 2013). These Battlefield UAV’s, such as the U.S.’s Predator drone are capable of being controlled by a computer system controlled remotely by a pilot interface. The interface is similar to a flight simulation game you see on video games. Today, the U.S. has over 4,000 UAS’s in operation overseas as well as domestically (Palermo, 2013).

Domestic Drones. The drone debate is many times centered on U.S use of the aircraft to kill terrorists in other countries, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. However, the debate is now being shifted to drones in our own front yard.

Imagine one morning you look out your bedroom window to see it’s a beautiful day out. The sun is shining, birds are chirping and drones flying by in the sky. Just a normal, beautiful day, except...