A Brief History of Drones.

The concept of drones may well date back to 1849, when Austria attacked Venice using unmanned balloons stuffed with explosives. Austrian forces, who were besieging Venice at the time, launched around 200 of these incendiary balloons over the city.

Each balloon carried anywhere between 11 to 14 kilograms of bombs. Once in position, these bombs were dropped from their carrier balloons to wreak havoc on the city below. Fortunately for the Venetians, only one bomb found its mark, as most of the balloons were blown off-course due to a sudden change in wind direction.

The basic concept of drones was being considered by military technologists more than 170 years ago.

One common feature of many modern commercial drones is the quadcopter configuration. This technology appeared in 1907, when brothers Jacques and Louis Bréguet developed an early example with their gyroplane, a forerunner of the helicopter. It achieved the first ascent of a vertical-flight aircraft with a pilot, it only reached a height of 0.6 meters.

Archibald Low, a British inventor, designed the first drone in 1916. Called the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target, this pilotless military drone used a radio guidance system.

Using a hand-picked team of around 30 men, Low rapidly built a pilotless plane which was launched from the back of a truck using compressed air (also the first).

Low and his team also invented the first wireless or rocket in 1917. The technology for this would later be adapted by the Germans for their V1 rocket program in WWII.

Although Low's projects had some success, and Low was nicknamed “the father of radio guidance systems,” his work was not followed up by the British military after the war. The Germans certainly understood its importance - they made two attempts to assassinate Low.

Shortly after, the US Army built the Kettering Bug in 1917, which used gyroscopic controls and was intended to be used as an “aerial torpedo”. Each "Bug" was launched from a four-wheeled dolly. After a period of time, the wings were released, causing the Bug to plunge to earth - where its 82kg of explosive detonated on impact.

Drone technological development continued in the 1930s, the US Navy began experimenting with radio-controlled aircraft, which resulted in the development of Curtiss N2C-2 Drone in 1937.

In 1935, the British developed “Queen Bee”, a radio-controlled target drone, which is also believed to have led to the use of term “drone,” for radio-controlled unmanned aircrafts.

Radio plane OQ-2, a remote-controlled model airplane developed by British actor Reginald Denny and engineer Walter Righter in the 1930s, actually became the first mass-produced UAV product in the US. Nearly 15000 drones were manufactured for the military during the World War II.

However, the most notable event of the World War II, with regards to drones, was the emergence of the V-1 "Doodlebugs" in the German army. Fitted with pulsejets, these crafts were effectively the world's first-ever cruise-missiles.

V-1 "Doodlebugs" were used in a campaign of "terror bombing" in British cities like London, in an effort to demoralize the British public. Their guidance system used a simple autopilot to control altitude and airspeed.

The next big step in drone technology occurred during the Vietnam War in 1960s. This war saw the first widespread deployment and use of drones. Drones also began to be used in a range of new roles, such as acting as decoys in combat, launching missiles against fixed targets, and dropping leaflets for psychological operations.

The need for drones also occurred to many other nations around the world. New drone models became more sophisticated as designers focused on improving endurance and the height at which the drones could safely operate.

The US also began the Pioneer UAV Program in 1980, with the goal of building an inexpensive drone for fleet operations. A joint project by the US and Israel in 1986 led to the development of the RQ-2 Pioneer – a medium-sized reconnaissance aircraft.

Also during this period, drone developers began to focus their attention on alternative power sources for drones. One obvious source was solar power. This led to some interesting solar-powered drones being developed, including the AeroVironment HALSOL.

The last 10 years or so have seen a huge explosion in drone innovation and commercial interest. Global shipments of drones to rise to 2.4 million by 2023.

Drones have also been deployed for home security and crowd control in some countries. While a worrying development, authorities in some areas are likely to continue the use of drones for this type of surveillance.

Miniaturization is also likely to play a massive role in the future of drones. As components are made smaller and smaller, drones will also be dramatically reduced in size. Who knows, perhaps microscopic drones might not be too far away.