SEND IN THE DRONES
delivering explosives to enemy targets, has been cited as one of the earliest examples of a UAV.
Te U.S. Army aircraft board, in 1917, tasked Kettering with designing a weapon that could strike enemy positions from a distance without risking human pilots’ lives, so he invented an unmanned aerial torpedo, nicknamed the “Bug,” launched from a four-wheeled dolly that ran down a portable track, with a system of internal pre-set pneumatic and electrical controls that stabi- lized and guided it toward a target. Kettering’s design, formerly called the “Kettering Aerial Torpedo,” later became known as the Kettering Bug, a flying machine capable of striking ground targets up to 75 miles from its launch point while traveling at speeds of 50 miles per hour.
Despite some modest success, the “Bug” was never used in combat due to reliability concerns so by the time the war ended, only 45 Kettering Bugs had been produced.
In World War II, a small radio-controlled aircraft designed by engineer Walter Righter was further developed as the Radioplane OQ-2 by actor and inventor Reginald Denny, becoming the first mass-produced UAV during the early 1940s. Initially intended for use as a target drone for training anti-aircraft gunners during
the war. Te simple aircraft, powered by a two-cylinder two cycle piston engine, led to a series of similar (but improved) variants during the war with nearly 15,000 Radioplane drones manu- factured.
During the Cold War era the Ryan Firebee, a high-speed, jet- powered aerial target took things a bit farther. Primarily used for reconnaissance and target practice, it marked a shift towards more sophisticated UAVs capable of enduring longer flights and carrying various intelligence gathering sensors. Tis target drone was so successful that variants are still in service today.
GOOD, BUT COULD BE BETTER Te development of these early drones laid the foundation for the advanced UAVs used today in modern military operations.
By the 1980s, seeing Israel’s success with its Scout drone—a small, difficult to shoot down UAV that could transmit real-time video images through a television camera in its central turret—the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines acquired more than 20 of Israel’s RQ-2 Pioneer drones (later replaced by the RQ-7B Shadow) in 1986. Te Pioneer contained some of the same foundational technol- ogy developed for the Scout drone, with significant advancements and enhancements making it a more capable and versatile UAV.
IT BEGAN WITH A BUG
The 1917 Kettering Aerial Torpedo “Bug” was an unmanned aerial torpedo launched from a four-wheeled dolly that ran down a portable track. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the United States Air Force)
112
Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2024
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