So everyone seems to be thinking about stuff like Pioneer or some variant of the the MQ-1 and MQ-9 series of drones.
Here are two more examples of drones that would have been in service during the Twilight War
1.
BQM-34 Firebee - is a ground or surface launched drone and can do a number of things depending on the mission packages installed. Some of the Firebees were later modified into what was called
"Buffalo Hunter" and used in missions over North Vietnam and the PRC during the 1960s. One of the images captured by a Buffalo Hunter mission lead to the
Son Tay Rescue Attempt.
So all that said there might still be Firebees in storage some where (Point Mugu, CA; White Sands, NM; Wallops Island, VA) and trying to recover a complete drone or two with the servicing equipment, the ZEL launcher, some JATO bottles, etc. Could be a good plot hook.
2.
BQM-74 Chukar is another drone that although a targeting drone; might again form a plot hook for someone. Say NA and they want to bastardized them into a crude cruise missile. Flip side is the use of these by either MilGov or CivGov for similar reasons or even again highly modified to try and take pictures or obtain radar photography of an area.
3. Without going too far, there was also a slew of drone aircraft that probably would have survived in numerous regions around the US in the Twilight War. Think of QF-102s, QF-80s, QF-86s, etc. They all might still be around post 1997-1999 moments of survival. Again, a good plot hook might be someone trying to acquire enough of these and enough parts to build an air force of some type again. Hand wave away the utter lack of POL products and other stuff, that would make this work. Still the technology is there and someone might know how to reverse engineer them back into flyable planes or even give them more capabilities than what they were as drones.
If we are talking the civilian market. I don't know how many folks remember the Estes Rockets and there was one with a
real simple camera with timer on it (
the modern version has a digital camera with video ). It used
Kodak 110 film, I am sure that someone might find a way to fit one of these kits on to an R/C aircraft of some type or even say setup a bunch of these rocket kits around and use them as some form of aerial recon over their domain in some way. Granted the hard part would be to find the chemicals and ability to process the film, if not find more of this film some where. Still having photography back is important for those trying to claim domain over areas.
Just my .02 on the subject.