Drone

A group photo of aerial demonstrators at the 2005 Naval Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Air Demo.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (often called drone) is an aircraft that is not operated by a pilot on board the aircraft. Even though some drones are operared by a computer, most of them are controlled remotely by people on the ground. UAVs are mostly used by military forces, for example for reconnaissance or unmanned combat. Some of them are programmed to be a target, to be shot at, for example. Drones also have civilian uses, such as for firefighting.

Drones exist in different sizes with wingspans ranging from a few centimetres to about 60 metres (200 ft), the size of regular, manned aircraft.

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  Unmanned aerial vehicle, launching a missile
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  Control room for an unmanned aerial vehicle