The 80 -year roots that had a "drone" that attacked the Japanese army in the Pacific War is a super high -tech weapon

Drone born as a US military aircraft during the Pacific War

The "UAV II type for disasters" is being introduced by the Ground Self -Defense Force.So -called small drone (image: Ground Self -Defense Force).

　"Drone" has been heard in recent years.This word, which refers to unmanned aerial aircraft, has been heard frequently since 2000, so it seems like it was recently developed, but it was the first to appear as a US weapon during the Pacific War.[Photo] Japanese ship drone, which was bombed by "drone" 80 years ago, was originally known as an unmanned aircraft that is called in English, such as UAV (unmanned aerial aircraft) and UAS (unmanned aerospace system).Unmanned attack aircraft such as RQ-1 (MQ-1) "Predator" and MQ-9 "Reaper" used by the U.S. military in conflict areas can also be said to be drones.The general image of a drone is to imagine a small, helicopter -like rotor.It is often used mainly for shooting from the sky, such as shooting online videos and TV programs, but it is very cheap and easy to use, so there are concerns that it will be used as scouting and attack aircraft, including terrorism.There are legal regulations such as banning flights in urban areas.

The first drone is radar and TV camera wireless guidance

TDN-1 (image: US Navy) during test flight.

　In the early days of the Pacific War, the first unmanned attack aircraft developed by the US Navy was TDN-1.The aircraft was also called an unmanned bomb, and was planned to be equipped with bombs and torpedoes, but most of all, the latest technology of radar and television was incorporated.The radar was practical in the United Kingdom just before World War II, and during the war, it was used in countries including Japan, but the TDN-1 was equipped with it, despite being unmanned.The television, developed in the 1930s, was conducted in the 1936 (Showa 11) Berlin Olympics, and after the war broke out, the main broadcast began in some of the United States and Germany.In other words, the TDN-1 adopted the latest technology at the time as soon as possible and put into practical use as unmanned aircraft control technologies, but the U.S. Army "attacks" a radio-controlled unmanned attack aircraft using these latest technology.Developed under the name of "Assault Drone" using the word meaning.The TDN-1 has been completed as early as 1942 (Showa 17), the year after the Pacific War began.The aircraft was wooden, the legs were fixed, and there were cockpit that people rode for test flights.The test flight was carried out on the Great Lake in the mainland of the United States using a practice carrier that the Navy's ship -based aircraft pilot trained and arrived.Although it was planned to load a bomb or one torpedo bomb or one torpedo, the speed was as low as 233km/h and the aircraft design was old, so it was not used for actual battles.However, the U.S. Navy had also asked a private aircraft manufacturer to make a drone in parallel with the development of TDN-1.