Drones turn nasty: the successful firing of laser-homing Lockheed Martin Hellfire anti-armour missiles from CIA-operated General Atomics MQ-1B Predators against ground vehicles in Afghanistan from 2002 (reportedly over 40 rounds) and in Yemen in 2003 opened the eyes of the leading armed services to the possibility of avoiding the use of expensive manned aircraft in some ground attack missions.

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Armed UAV

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Drones turn nasty: the successful firing of laser-homing Lockheed Martin Hellfire anti-armour missiles from CIA-operated General Atomics MQ-1B Predators against ground vehicles in Afghanistan from 2002 (reportedly over 40 rounds) and in Yemen in 2003 opened the eyes of the leading armed services to the possibility of avoiding the use of expensive manned aircraft in some ground attack missions.

This turnabout in the nature of aerial warfare should have come as no surprise, since the concept was evaluated by the US Air Force over 30 years ago.

The principal drone in use at the time of the Vietnam War was the turbojet-powered Teledyne Ryan (now part of Northrop Grumman) Model 147 Firebee or AQM-34, which entered service in late 1964. Although primarily a camera platform, the Model 147 was also employe...

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