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Unmanned Balloons Filled With Explosives
Austrian soldiers attacked the city of Venice with unmanned balloons filled with explosives. Some of these balloons were successful, but a number of them blew back and bombed the Austrians’ own lines, so the practice did not become widely adopted. -
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The British military used aerial photography to their advantage in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. They captured more than 1,500 sky view maps of the German trench fortifications in the region. -
The Ruston Proctor Aerial Target
The Aerial Target was essentially a flying bomb which England hoped to use to counter the German Zeppelins, though its inventor thought it could also be used against ground targets. -
Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane
A year following the Aerial Target, an American alternative was created: the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane. It was a lot like the Ruston proctor Aerial Target, meaning it was basically a flying bomb. -
The Kettering Bug
After an impressive test of the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane before representatives of the US Army, a more advanced mass-producible version was commissioned: the Kettering Bug. It was developed too late to be used in the war and was never deployed in combat. -
Curtiss N2C-2
The US Navy began experimenting with radio-controlled aircraft. It resulted in the creation of the Curtiss N2C-2 drone. -
Reginald Denny and the Radioplane
In the early stages of WWII, the US created the first remote controlled aircraft called the Radioplane QQ2. The first large-scale production, purpose-built drone was the product of Reginald Danny -
Israel Air Force Victory
Israeli Air Force claimed victory over the Syrian Air Force. Israel used some UAVs to destroy a dozen of Syrian aircraft with minimal losses. -
Pioneer UAV Program
In the 1980s, US military operations in Grenada, Lebanon, and Libya identified a need for on-call, inexpensive, unmanned, over-the-horizon targeting, reconnaissance and battle damage assessment capabilities for the local commanders. The Secretary of the Navy directed an acquisition of UAV systems for fleet operations. -
Reconnaissance Drone
A joint US and Israeli project produced the RQ2 Pioneer, a medium-sized reconnaissance dron. -
Mini UAVs
Miniature and micro UAVs were introduced to the world. -
Predator Drone
The USA deployed the Predator drone in Afghanistan while searching for Osama Bin Laden. -
Non-Military Drone Use
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the history of non-military drone use began in earnest in 2006. Government agencies used them for disaster relief, border surveillance and wildfire fighting. Some corporations began using drones to inspect pipelines or spray pesticides on farms. -
Commercial Drone Permit
The Federal Aviation Administration had to be convinced that commercial drones were safe to allow and determine proper regulatory measures. 2006 was the first year that the FAA issued a commercial drone permit. They issued an average of two permits a year for the next eight years, which was all that had been requested. -
Delivery Drones
In the year 2013, the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, announced that the company was considering using drones as a delivery method. The public’s interest in drone history grew. -
NASA Drones
NASA began sending remote-controlled planes filled with monitoring equipment to the edge of the atmosphere to take some measurements on the thickness of the tropopause. They’re checking to see how water vapor and the ozone interact, and thus the possibility of retroactively curbing climate change. -
More Permits
In 2015, the FAA issued 1000 drone permits. The number more than tripled to 3100 permits in 2016 and which has continued to grow in the time since. -
Altair Aerial
Altair Aerial created easy-to-fly drones. They hoped to get even more people into the market with low-cost beginner-friendly UAV technology. -
Flyability
Flyability is leading the way to create drones that are able to operate indoors in complex, confined spaces. They can also operate along with people. -
EHANG
The Chinese company EHANG wanted to turn drones into a taxi service. They have built a quadcopter capable of carrying passengers.
