ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the perceptive reader will observe that all aircraft, manned or unmanned, followed essentially the same iterative process involving the development of aerodynamic forces by wings or rotors that offset the weight of the craft, allowing it to fly. Army lost interest in the MAT program, the service turned its attention to target drones. During the same interwar years, the British Royal Navy attempted to develop an unmanned aerial torpedo and an unmanned target drone, both utilizing the same fuselage. Based on the earlier 1930s work by inventor Paul Schmidt in developing a practical pulse jet, the aircraft integrated an advanced, lightweight, and reliable three-axis gyrostabilized autopilot, a radio signal baseline system for accurate launch point data, and a robust steel fuselage that was resistant to battle damage. In modern times, the term “unmanned aircraft” has come to mean an autonomous or remotely piloted vehicle that is used to navigate in the air.