Edge columnist
War is an arena in which a lot of money is spent every year, and it is incredible that according to the article by Kimberly Amadeo published by The Balance, is estimated that just in 2022 the United States are going to spend more than 7 billion dollars in it, allowing science to develop all kinds of technology and making available to armies tools of all kinds capable of doing many things that were unthinkable until a few years ago. Also giving life to those who changed the way to fight and left their mark on every war fought in the 21st century, the military drones.
Drones are unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), and are aerial vehicle not equipped with a pilot used for intelligence, target acquisition and such often provided with missiles or bombs.
The concept of a flying machine without a pilot capable of hitting from the sky first occurred on August 22, 1849, when the Austrians used hot-air balloons to bomb Venice during the first Italian independence war. The idea evolved when, according to the article history of drone warfare published by “The Bureau investigates,” in the late 1950s the US army used radio-controlled aircraft equipped with cameras to take pictures of China and Northern Vietnam but due to the large deficits given by the control distance and the high price of production, were used only for a strategic purpose to study the enemy camp.
The most modern war drones as we know them today were born instead in 1970, when an Israel genius in the Israeli army designed flying machines with a fine body and long wings capable of maintaining flight for more than 24 hours, and from that moment most of the armies in the world began to develop new forms of drones. These extremely prestigious, expensive machines that can be of various shapes and sizes are machines able to stand at extremely lofty heights until the identification of the subject to be hit, and then disintegrate everything that is near the explosion. They are a highly effective instrument, and they marked a turning point in the way of fighting because thanks to their extreme precision they make war much safer for civilians, but also much more unpredictable and dangerous for soldiers on both sides but having the advantage of not scarifying any pilot.
They have already been used in many wars such as the one in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Ethiopia, or even in the one still going on that is being fought between Ukraine and Russia.
Sources:
BUREAU INVESTIGATES: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/explainers/history-of-drone-warfare
BBC NEWS: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60047328