We don’t always call them “drones”, but unmanned aircrafts are the future for surveillance, aerial war and cartography. We know military drones, They are heavily used by the US Army in Afghanistan and – were- in Irak. Every modern army has now drones, even own made drones: the French Army even built some vehicles. Those things are getting more and more autonomous and powerful. At first, They were only reconnaissance planes. Now They are carrying heavy missiles and weapons and are killing machines, controlled by trained pilots. Few months ago, Boeing, for instance, revealed some new prototypes, showing that drones were now crucial for armies and the industry, and that drones are now as powerful and dangerous as current military aircrafts – F-22, … The X-45 – which really looks like the Northrop B-2 by the way – may never exist, but showed what would be next. The Boeing’s Phantom Eye though is real, it is an hydrogen powered aircraft which will be able to fly at 65 000 ft during 4 days! It could be used for reconnaissance, military support or even to draw maps. And what’s next, it is the Boeing’s Phantom Ray – which is based on the X-45 – a secret Boeing project which has been unveiled in 2010 in St – Louis. Its first flight should happen in December 2010. It should support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance but also air combats and aerial refueling! It will fly at M. 0.8 (max Mach 0.85) at 40 000 ft and with a range of 1 500 mi. It will be able to carry some missiles.

Boeing is not the only company developing drones, EADS is for instance. Some companies are now thinking about developing solar drones which could fly non-stop for years.

But be aware that even manned aircrafts could someday turn into drones. This is not new, but after 9/11/2001, the industry was thinking about developing new technologies to control aircrafts from the ground, in case of a terrorist attack. Few days ago, We also saw a technology which allowed some people to bring back, because of automatic pilot, a damaged plane. Actually, all those drones show that We have the technology to automatized civil aircrafts, but the real question is do We really want to do that? Well the question is important, pilots have to be in front of the reality to focus on their task – bringing their aircraft safely to their destination – and those technologies could also create or lead to catastrophes.

Sources: Boeing and Popular Science