Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), military aircraft that is guided autonomously, by remote control, or both and that carries sensors, target designators, offensive ordnance, or electronic transmitters designed to interfere with or destroy enemy targets (Britannica).
They use aerodynamic forces to provide air vehicle lift, and they are designed to carry nonlethal payloads for missions such as reconnaissance, command and control, and deception. UAVs may also carry lethal payloads (Tice, 43).
They are classified like this:
1)Single-rotor (or helicopter): this category of UAVs takes off and lands vertically. Generally, they use a main rotor for attitude control (roll, pitch, and yaw) and a tail rotor to control the direction.
2)Multi-rotor (or multicopter): this is a UAV having more than two rotors. This UAV category is further subdivided into five sub-categories, which are birotor, trirotor, quadrotor, hexarotor, and eight-rotor (octocopter).
3)Fixed-wing: the classification of these drones is not only based on the type of wing, but also on the body and the power system (Li-ion, Li-Po batteries, or gas-powered). They are subdivided into four subcategories: normal, swept back, swept forward, and delta.
4)Hybrid: this last category is still under development. It is an improved version that takes advantage of both multi-rotor and fixed-wing UAVs. They offer good agility and velocity on long-distance flights (Scholarly Community Encyclopedia).
Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/technology/unmanned-aerial-vehicle.
Tice, B. (1991). UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES. Airpower Journal, 5(1), 43. Retrieved from: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Volume-05_Issue-1-4/1991_Vol5_No1.pdf
Scholarly Community Encyclopedia. MDPI, Retrieved from: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/43656