[19.0] Comments, Sources, & Revision History

v1.4.1 / chapter 19 of 19 / 01 mar 08 / greg goebel / public domain

* I never really intended to write this document, at least not to the level of detail and length it has reached. It was just a case of one thing leading to another.

It all started with a short document on the BQM-74 Chukar that I released in 1998. I had intended to incrementally add new documents on UAVs following the Chukar article, but I was sidetracked by development of the companion documents in this series, DUMB BOMBS & SMART MUNITIONS and CRUISE MISSILES. By the spring of 2000 I had such a "critical mass" of information on UAVs that I decided to simply go ahead and put together a full survey of the topic.

It is a reflection on the level of activity in the UAV field at the present time that getting the first version of this document out the door proved to be such an extended exercise. New information popped up continuously, requiring constant additions and rewrites. AVIATION WEEK had something new almost every week, and even as I was polishing for release I was still adding details. I have rarely been so relieved to finally ship a document. Once released, new information kept trickling in, demanding updates. The subject's so open-ended that each time I perform an update, there's always loose ends since I just don't have the time to track all the details down.

After a few years I learned to be selective, since there are a lot of UAV projects coming and going, with proposals appearing and disappearing, and even those proposals that seem to be on track for development tend to shift like a mirage. It turns out to be more bother than it's worth to discuss a UAV development program unless it's on a fairly solid track. In fact, it's generally more trouble than it's worth to try to incorporate sketchy information on existing but obscure UAVs, since such materials often turn out to be very misleading or dead wrong. There came a time when I finally had to simplify this document just to weed out some of the more dubious information.

* Sources include:

• DARK EAGLES by Curtis Peebles, Presidio Press, 1995. This is an excellent book, and the materials on the Lightning Bugs, Model 154, and D-21 drones owe much to it.

• SOVIET-RUSSIAN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES by Yefim Gordon, Midland, 2005.

• "Solar-Powered Planes" by Robert B. Aronson, MACHINE DESIGN, 7 February 1985, 32:34.

• "The Little Airplane That Could" by Peter Hellman, DISCOVER, February 1987, 78:87.

• "Microwave-Powered Aircraft", IEEE SPECTRUM, September 1987.

• "Unmanned Air Vehicles: A Prospectus" by Robert A. Moore, AEROSPACE AMERICA, February 1989.

• "Boeing Condor Raises UAV Performance Levels" by Breck W. Henderson, AVIATION WEEK, 23 April 1990, 36:38.

• "Aircraft Spies Behind Enemy Lines" by Lyle H. McCarty, DESIGN NEWS, 20 August 1990, 40,43.

• "NASA Launches A Five-Year Plan To Clone Drones" by Gary Taubes, AAAS SCIENCE, 16 April 1993, 286.

• "Missile-Killing UAV Makes Initial Flights" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 23 August 1993, 74:75.

• "Solar-Powered UAV To Fly At Edwards" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 4 October 1993, 27.

• "CIA To Deploy UAVs In Albania" by David A. Fulghum & J.D. Morrocco, AVIATION WEEK, 31 Jan 1994, 20:22.

• "Matra Buys Option On Rutan UAV Design" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 8 August 1994, 55.

• "Endurance UAVs Move To Center Stage", AVIATION WEEK, 10 July 1995, 41:57.

• "McDonnell Douglas Rolls Out The X-36" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 25 March 1996, 20:22.

• "Turbo Power Reaches New Heights" by John Lewis, DESIGN NEWS, 9 September 1996, 78:85.

• "Strikestar 2025 To Combine F-117 Stealth, UAV Range" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 30 September 1996, 74:75.

• "F-16As May Fly Again As Unmanned Combat Vehicles" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 4 November 1996, 28:29.

• "Tailless Designs Touted For New Combat Aircraft" (and following) by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 11 November 1996, 56:64.

• "Giant Solar-Powered Drone Gets $2.5 Million Go-Ahead" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 3 February 1997, 59.

• "Pilotless Research Picks Up Speed In UK" by Philip Butterworth-Hayes, AEROSPACE AMERICA, April 1997, 4:5.

• "Unmanned Strike Next For Military" (and following) by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 2 June 1997,

• "Remote Sensing On The Cheap" by Paul Proctor, AVIATION WEEK, 8 September 1997, 13.

• "Navy Eyes Stealthy Unmanned Aircraft", AVIATION WEEK, 13 October 1997, 27.

• "Pilotless Planes: Not Cleared For Takeoff?" by Stan Crock, US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 8 December 1997, 106:111.

• "General Atomics RQ-1A Predator / Tier-II UAVs In Service" by David Donald, WORLD AIR POWER JOURNAL, Volume 31, Winter 1997.

• "Palm-Size Spy Planes" by Steven Ashley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, February 1998, 74:78.

• "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" by Roy Braybrook, AIR INTERNATIONAL, May 1998, 305:308.

• "Pathfinder Plus Exceeds 80,000 Feet; Centurion Assembled" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 17 August 1998, 33.

• "Gun-Fired 'WASP' Locates Targets" by William B. Scott, AVIATION WEEK, 31 August 1998, 57.

• "Honey, I Shrunk The Plane" by Stephen J. Mraz, MACHINE DESIGN, 8 October 1998, 35:42.

• "Miniature Air Vehicles Fly Into Army's Future" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 9 November 1998, 37:38.

• "Giant Centurion Starts Flight Test" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 16 November 1998, 42.

• "Boeing To Test 'Dragonfly' UAV" by Paul Proctor, AVIATION WEEK, 7 December 1998, 48.

• "A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That" by Bill Norton, AIR INTERNATIONAL, January 1999, 42:47.

• "Proteus: Rutan's Low-Orbit Chameleon" by Peter Lert, FLIGHT JOURNAL. February 1999, 36:41.

• "Boeing Wins UCAV Contract" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 29 March 1999, 84:85.

• "Angel With A Halo: The Proteus" by Dave Allport, AIR INTERNATIONAL, April 1999, 237:239.

• "A Bug's Lift" by Phil Scott, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, April 1999, 51,54.

• "Kamovs For The Navy" by Piotr Butowski, AIR INTERNATIONAL, May 1999, 284:292.

• "German UAVs Join Air War", AVIATION WEEK, 3 May 1999, 26.

• "Predator Builder Teams With Europeans" by John D. Morrocco, AVIATION WEEK, 28 June 1999.

• "Several Micro Air Vehicles In Flight Test Programs" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 12 July 1999, 47.

• "Turbojet On A Chip To Run In 2000" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 12 July 1999, 50:52.

• "From Top Gun To Computer Nerd" by Malcolm Davis, AIR INTERNATIONAL, September 1999, 171:175.

• "Gnat Exploits Advanced SAR", AVIATION WEEK, 6 September 1999, 24:25.

• "UCAV's Mission, Design Redefined" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 20 September 1999, 55:56.

• "Testing Expands Interest In MALD" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 15 November 1999, 84:85.

• "Ryan Designs UAV Helicopter For Navy" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 22 November 1999, 33.

• "NASA's High Fliers" by Karl Schwarz, FLUG REVUE, December 1999.

• "Army Bets On AAI's Reconnaissance Drone" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 1 January 2000, 44.

• "US Navy To Bolster Unmanned Aircraft Fleet" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 24 January 2000, 30.

• "NASA Taps General Atomics To Build New Drones" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 31 January 2000, 51.

• "Mars Air" by Oliver Morton, SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE, January 2000, 34:42.

• "QF-4 Drones Emulate Enemy Fighters" by William B. Scott (and following), AVIATION WEEK, 20 March 2000, 62:63.

• "Microspies" by Peter Garrison, SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE, April-May 2000, 54:61.

• "Mr. Reynolds, We've Got Your Number" by Peter Garrison, SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE, April/May 2000, 58:59.

• "Runway In The Sky Evaluated For UAVs" by Paul Proctor, AVIATION WEEK, 5 June 2000, 91.

• "Federal Flight Rules Eyed For Unmanned Aircraft" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 5 June 2000, 40, 42.

• "USAF Makes Predator Its First Armed UAV", AVIATION WEEK, 12 June 2000, 34.

• "French Develop New UAV Programs" by Pierre Sparaco, AVIATION WEEK, 26 June 2000, 42,44.

• "MALD Makes Bid For New Missions" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 10 July 2000, 34:35.

• "Industry Team Picked For Navy UCAV" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 10 July 2000, 35.

• "Navy Target Win Boosts Orbital's Base" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 10 July 2000, 36.

• "Helicopter UAV Readied For Flight Test" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 21 August 2000, 31.

• "Israeli UAV Requirements Include Stealth, Endurance" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 4 September 2000, 71:72.

• "Airdata File: UK Cranfield U-99", AIR INTERNATIONAL, October 2000, 246.

• "A Bright Future For Italy's Meteor" by Dott Riccardo Niccoli, AIR INTERNATIONAL, October 2000, 248:250.

• "Boeing Premieres UCAV Demonstrator" by Stanley W. Kandebo, AVIATION WEEK, 2 October 2000.

• "Europe Joining Forces On Future Air Systems" by John D. Morrocco, AVIATION WEEK, 9 October 2000, 32:33.

• "Dassault Flight Tests Stealthy UAV Design" by John D. Morrocco, AVIATION WEEK, 9 October 2000, 33:34.

• "Low-Cost Mini-Radar Developed For UAVs" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 9 October 2000, 101.

• "Global Hawk Snares Big Break" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 23 October 2000, 55.

• "Global Hawk Convinces US Air Force" by Karl Schwarz, FLUG REVUE, November 2000, 58.

• "Proteus Sets Records After Flying NASA Missions" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 20 November 2000, 55:56.

• "Unmanned-Systems Group Targets Derivatives, New Products" by Robert Wall & David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 20 November 2000, 55:56.

• "New Missions, Designs For Global Hawk" by Robert Wall & David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 20 November 2000, 57:58.

• "New Demonstrator Spurs Navy UCAV Development" by Robert Wall & David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 19 February 2001, 52:54.

• "Star Unmanned Aircraft Faces Bureaucratic Fight" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 12 March 2001, 28:29.

• "France Selects Eagle 1 UAV", AVIATION WEEK, 21 May 2001, 57.

• "South African UAV Targets Low-End Niche" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 16 July 2001, 85:86.

• "Sagem Unveils New UAVs" by Michael A. Taverna, AVIATION WEEK, 16 July 2001, 87.

• "Helios Claims New Record, Aims For Longer Stays Aloft" by Bruce A. Smith, AVIATION WEEK, 20 August 2001, 47:48.

• "Army Moves Ahead On UAV-Based SIGINT" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 3 September 2001, 88.

• "USAF Considers Larger Global Hawk" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 15 October 2001, 50.

• "Senior Bowl -- The Lockheed D-21" by James C. Goodall & Nora D. Goodall, INTERNATIONAL AIR POWER REVIEW, Volume 3 (Winter 2001/2002), 106:119.

• "Northrop Grumman Loses Second Unmanned Project" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 28 January 2002, 42:45.

• "NASA To Test 'Slow' Hypersonic Vehicles" by Edward H. Phillips, AVIATION WEEK, 28 January 2002, 40:41.

• "Hummingbird UAV Begins Flight Test Program" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 4 February 2002, 37.

• "UAVs Spotlighted As Defense Priority" by Robert Wall and David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 11 February 2002, 26.

• "Air Force UCAV Design Reworked" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 25 February 2002, 28:30.

• "New Missiles Sought For Upgraded Predator" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 25 February 2002, 30, 35.

• "Industry Outlook: Unattended Choppers", edited by Patricia J. Parmalee, AVIATION WEEK, 8 April 2002, 21.

• "Army Acquiring More UAVs To Explore New Technologies" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 20 May 2002, 24.

• "French Plan For Miniature UAV Demonstration, Procurement" by Michael A. Taverna, AVIATION WEEK, 17 June 2002, 63.

• "Foreign Sales Control Pace Of Innovation" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 24 June 2002, 89:90.

• "USAF Tags X-45 UCAV As Penetrating Jammer" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 1 July 2002, 26:27.

• "Italy Acquires CL-289s, Mulls Follow-On UAV Buy" by Michael A. Taverna & Andy Nativi, AVIATION WEEK, 8 July 2002, 52.

• "War On Terrorism Boosts Deployment Of Mini-UAVs" by Michael A. Dornheim & Michael A. Taverna, AVIATION WEEK, 8 July 2002, 48,50.

• "Small UAVs Built For Use From Large UAVs, Missiles" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 22 July 2002, 192,195.

• "Unmanned Designs Expand Missions And Lower Costs" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEk, 29 July 2002, 28:31.

• "Predator UAV Tested With New Payloads" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 2 September 2002, 47.

• "Predator B To Increase Lethality Of UAV Fleet" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 11 November 2002, 34.

• "Navy Sets Course For Endurance UAV" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 23 December 2002, 25:26.

• "USAF Eyes Decoy, Jammer As MALI Demonstration Ends" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 13 January 2003, 418:419.

• "Boeing Redesigns X-45" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 5 May 2003, 38.

• "MALD Do-Over" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 26 May 2003, 31.

• "Fuel Cells Debut [Helios]" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 2 June 2003, 52.

• "UCAV Ambitions [Alenia Aeronautica]" by Andy Nativi, AVIATION WEEK, 16 June 2003, 79.

• "War Shapes New Products [Israeli Backpack UAVs]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 16 June 2003, 152:157.

• "Stealth UAV Goes To War" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 7 July 2003, 20:21.

• "UCAV Reunites F-35 Team" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 21 July 2003, 27.

• "Small UAV, Big Goal [ScanEagle]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 21 July 2003, 28.

• "Targets Become UAVs [Firebee In Iraq]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 28 July 2003, 54.

• "Huge Problems, Nagging Concerns [J-UCAS]" (and following), by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 18 August 2003, 44:46.

• "Next Step In Unmanned Combat [UCAR]" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 25 August 2003, 52:53.

• "EADS Targets World [EADS UAVs]" by David A. Fulghum & Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 15 September 2003, 70:72.

• "Italians Build UAV For UAVs [MALP]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 15 September 2003, 78:80.

• "New Stealth [Minion UCAV]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 22 September 2003, 32.

• "Fire Scout Joins The Army" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 20 October 2003, 66:69.

• "Second Look [Shadow 200 Improvements]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 27 October 2003, 64.

• "Recce Expansion [German Army UAVs]" by Robert Wall and Michael A. Taverna, AVIATION WEEK, 17 November 2003, 34.

• "Virtual Fly-Off" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 26 April 2004, 58.

• "Life Preserver" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 26 July 2004, 57.

• "Ducts In A Row [DARPA OAV-2 Program]" by Robert Wall, AVIATION WEEK, 16 August 2004, 24:25.

• "Advanced UAVs [USAF Hunter-Killer Program]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 20 September 2004, 46:48.

• "A160 [Hummingbird] Back In Flight" by Michael A. Dornheim, AVIATION WEEK, 11 October 2004, 78.

• "Killer Bees" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 7 March 2005, 50:51.

• "'Black' Snooper UAVs" by William B. Scott and David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 3 October 2005, 33.

• "The War At Home [USAF Predator A Operations]" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 26 September 2005, 58:60.

• "Carried By The Wind [BAE Systems Zephyr]" by Douglas Barrie, AVIATION WEEK, 20 March 2006, 27.

• "Project Neuron" by Robert Wall & Michael A. Taverna, AVIATION WEEK, 8 January 2007, 22:24.

• "Israel's Secret UAV" by David A. Fulghum, AVIATION WEEK, 21 May 2007, 32.

• "Little Friends [Honeywell MAV]" by Guy Norris, AVIATION WEEK, 6 August 2007, 50:51.

• "Scaled And Blended [X-48B BWB demonstrator]" by Guy Norris, AVIATION WEEK, 6 August 2007, 52.

* Although this is a long list of sources it is by no means padded, and in fact I have not bothered to list many sources where all I got was a comment or two. Various editions of JANE'S ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFT back to 1960 were consulted as well, and proved valuable resources. JANE'S now publishes UAV details in a stand-alone volume, but its price is far beyond my means, and though it would provide a tremendous number of details on the latest technology, I do not have access to it.

I found a large number of details on the Web, though mostly in tiny bits and pieces. I won't include URLs of websites here because they break so often and maintaining them would be a nuisance out of proportion to their value, but a search engine should find them pretty quickly. Useful sites included AAI; Freewing Corporation; AeroVironment; BAI Aerosystems; Silver Arrow in Israel; CAC Systemes in France; the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website; and many excellent materials from NASA on their UAV programs.

Recent revisions of this document have been assisted by Andreas Parsch's excellent website, DIRECTORY OF US MILITARY ROCKETS & MISSILES. Mr. Parsch is clearly attempting to provide a definitive reference on the topic and goes into maximum detail, and those who want more data than provided here, at least on US UAVs, would certainly find it very interesting. I find it difficult to keep up with him, and certainly am not trying to compete with him for level of detail!

Although I have found attempting to contact companies for information to be troublesome as well as unproductive and have given it up as a bad idea, some company staffers contacted me directly with information. Jay Willmott of BAI Aerosystems, for example, provided a very nice pocket history of the Dragon Drone, and Kerry McCandlish of Flight Refueling Limited in the UK gave me good materials on the Falconet target.

* Revision history:

   v1.0   / 01 feb 01 / gvg
   v1.1.0 / 01 feb 02 / gvg / General cleanup and update.
   v1.2.0 / 01 jan 03 / gvg / General update.
   v1.3.0 / 01 jan 05 / gvg / General update, added 3 chapters, new pix.
   v1.4.0 / 01 apr 06 / gvg / General polishing, updates, more drawings.
   v1.4.1 / 01 mar 08 / gvg / Cleanup and simplification.