Today, when most people hear the word drone, they immediately think of a fun piece of technology that they can use to capture footage of beautiful landscapes, or of their friends and family doing fun things like sports. However, drones never used to be normalized as a simple piece of household technology that can be bought and enjoyed by anything.
Instead, drones have always been used in more commercial and military environments, often times in the aviation industry.
But, what has led the drone to become a piece of fun technology that everyone strives to buy and enjoy in their own personal time? Where did the first drone come from, and what is the history of this airborne technology?
Let’s find out!
1800s – Military Drones
Drones first ever appeared in the mid-1800s in the military setting. They were primarily used for training purposes, instead of actual combat or reconnaissance missions. When most people today think of military drones they will most likely think of a sleek, fast, and barely visible piece of technology that can slip in and out of enemy zones without easily being detected.
Of course, drone technology and development took a long time to reach that level. Indeed, drones back in the 1800s were far different from what we expected from military technology in the modern era when you can play the online blackjack NZ has to offer on your phone.
Drones back then were more based on balloon technology, used as torpedoes, and used as aerial practice targets, instead of being multipurpose flying devices that could take on a range of different military missions.
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was the first time that drones were really used for a range of different military endeavours including stealth and attack missions. Of course, drones were also being used throughout both of the major world wars, but the Vietnam war really sprung drone technology into life and showed the world that smaller flying vehicles, that don’t have to be manned by an in-person pilot, maybe the future of aerial warfare.
The drones used in the Vietnam war were mostly used for spy missions and many people referred to them as “spy planes” when in fact they were being manned from a remote base all the way back in the United States.
2000s – The Modern Era
What this timeline shows us, and what many people fail to understand about the evolution of drones, is that all of the technology related to these flying devices devolved from military research and evolution. Drones were never intended to be household items that could be used for leisure but many investors and capitalists saw the potential in creating commercial drone technology. Today the drone industry is stronger than it’s ever been and the technology that is being developed by companies producing drones is now supplying great ideas to the military instead of the other way around. Drones today are used to capture film footage, make easy online deliveries, and much, much more.