Quote:
Originally Posted by kalos72
So in my timeline, UAV's like the Predator are available to DoD/CIA forces pre-war.
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That does not sound too far off, UAV have really been around in one way or another since World War II. These early models where developed at target drones. The two most widely used post war models were the Ryan Firebee and the Beechcraft MQM-61 Cardinal
The MQM-61 Cardinal was a target drone designed and built by Beechcraft. A total of 2,200 Cardinals of all variants were built, the majority for the US Army, with the rest operated by the US Navy, the US Marine Corps.
The Ryan Firebee has been in use from 1951, while first classified as a target drone over the years they have been converted into UAVs. In 2003 Five BQM-34-53 Extended Range Firebees were also used to lay chaff corridors during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The drones were modernized by Northrop Grumman in a fast-response program earlier that year, being fitted with chaff dispensers and other improvements including GPS-based programmable waypoint guidance systems (which may or not have been added by the upgrade program).
The Tadiran Mastiff is regarded by military historians as the world's first modern military drone having first flown in 1973.
Here are some UAV used by NATO in 1990’s
The Boeing Condor is a high-tech test bed aerial reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle. It has a wingspan of over 200 feet. First flight was on 9 October 1988.
The General Atomics GNAT is an aerial reconnaissance UAV developed in the United States in the late 1980s and manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI). As initially designed, it was a simplified version of the LSI Amber intended for foreign sales. The GNAT 750 made its first flight in 1989.
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Initially conceived in the early 1990s for aerial reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator carries cameras and other sensors. The aircraft entered service in 1995
The Alliant RQ-6 Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was designed to provide near-real-time reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition information to United States Marine Corps air/ground task forces, United States Army brigades, and deployed United States Navy units that was small enough for an entire system to be contained on two Humvees and trailer and transported on a single C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft. The project began in 1996
The Sikorsky Cypher and Cypher II are types of unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Sikorsky Aircraft. They are vertical takeoff and landing aircraft which use two opposing rotors enclosed in a circular shroud for propulsion. The single prototype first flew in April 1992 and flew untethered in 1993. Since then, over 550 demonstration flights have been made for the US government. Two Cypher II prototypes have been built for the US Marine Corps, which calls it "Dragon Warrior". The Cypher II is similar in size to its predecessor, but has a pusher propeller in addition to its rotor and can be fitted with wings for long-range reconnaissance missions.
The AAI RQ-2 Pioneer is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was been utilized by the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, and deployed at sea and on land from 1986 until 2007. Initially tested aboard USS Iowa, the RQ-2 Pioneer was placed aboard Iowa-class battleships to provide gunnery spotting, its mission evolving into reconnaissance and surveillance, primarily for amphibious forces. Units included
United States Navy
VC-6 "Firebees": Naval Station Norfolk
Training Air Wing 6 UAV Detachment: Naval Air Station Whiting Field
United States Marine Corps
VMU-1 'Watchdogs': Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twenty Nine Palms, California
VMU-2 'Night Owls': Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina
The SAGEM Sperwer (Pronounced Spehr-wuhr, Dutch for Sparrow Hawk) is an unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by the French firm SAGEM. The Sperwer was originally developed to meet a late 1990s Dutch Army requirement for a tactical UAV. Its lineage is rather complex
https://documents.techno-science.ca/...es-SPERWER.pdf
The Canadair CL-89 is a surveillance drone (UAV) produced jointly by Canada, Britain and West Germany in the 1960s. A larger and improved model with a greater payload, the CL-289, was later introduced.
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned (UAV) surveillance aircraft. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical. The Global Hawk performs a similar role as the Lockheed U-2. Its first test flight was in 1998
The AeroVironment FQM-151 Pointer is a small UAV used by the United States Army and Marine Corps for battlefield surveillance. It was designed by AeroVironment Incorporated. The radio-controlled Pointer was built mostly of high-impact Kevlar. It resembled a hobbyist's RC sailplane with a small engine added. The little Pointer was hand-launched and is recovered by putting it into a flat spin and allowing it to flutter down to the ground.