An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), sometimes known as a drone, is a kind of aircraft that does not have a human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. Also known as a UAV. UAVs were first created during the 20th century for military operations that were seen to be too "dull, unclean, or hazardous" for people. By the beginning of the 21st century, UAVs had become indispensable assets to the majority of the world's forces. Their usage spread to a wide variety of civilian applications as control technology became more advanced and prices decreased. Aerial photography, precision agriculture, monitoring forest fires and rivers, monitoring the environment, police and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling, product delivery, entertainment, and racing drones are some of the uses for drones today.
An unmanned aerial vehicle, often known as a UAV, is "a powered aerial vehicle that does not contain a human operator, employs aerodynamic forces to create vehicle lift, may fly autonomously or be controlled remotely, can be disposable or recoverable, and can carry a deadly or nonlethal payload." The word "UAV" is most often used to refer to applications in the military. Nevertheless, missiles that already have their warheads attached are not considered UAVs since the vehicle itself is regarded to be a munition. Also, the relationship between UAVs and remote-controlled model aircraft is not entirely obvious; UAVs may or may not include remote-controlled model aircraft in their definition. Nevertheless, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States considers any uncrewed flying vehicle to be a UAV regardless of size. Other countries base their definition on weight or size. UAVs may also be considered to be a part of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which consists of the UAV itself in addition to a ground-based controller and a communications system with the UAV.
According to their Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2005–2030, the Department of Defense (DoD) of the United States of America and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States of America adopted the term unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in 2005. This phrase has been approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), as well as the British Civil Aviation Authority. It is also used in the Single-European-Sky (SES) Air-Traffic-Management (ATM) Research (SESAR Joint Undertaking) plan for the year 2020. The significance of components other than the aeroplane itself is highlighted by this word. It incorporates components like as ground control stations, data linkages, and several other types of support apparatus. A remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), also known as an unmanned aircraft vehicle system (UAVS), is another name that is interchangeable with this one (RPAS). There are several words that are used interchangeably.