Flying without a pilot
By CNN Correspondent Phil O'Sullivan
SINGAPORE (CNN) -- Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, made their first appearance at the Asian Aerospace air show in Singapore recently.
It's a sign of the growing numbers of these aircraft and their growing importance.
Their main advantage is their ability to go where it is dangerous for human pilots to go, and to go there for much longer.
They are able to take-off, fly and land -- all with out an onboard pilot.
On display in Singapore was a full-size mock-up of Northrop Grummon's Global Hawk.
The Hawk has a wingspan similar to that of a Boeing 737 jet airliner and it recently set the UAV endurance record with a flight from California to Australia.
The Global Hawk can fly for up to 35 hours at a height of 65, 000 feet (19,800 meters), out of range of most conventional missiles.
The use of Predator UAVs doing surveillance and carrying out combat attacks in the latest war in Iraq has emphasized their importance in changing how wars are, and will, be fought.
More and more UAVs are being used to watch us from above and as they become more and more common, the technology that helps to fly them is also becoming more advanced.
UAVs can weigh as little as 28 grams (1 ounce) with a microprocessor, gyros to keep it flying level and the ability to stay in contact with a computer on the ground.
A set of instructions can be given to the aircraft via the on-ground computer and it can then carry out its mission with very little assistance. The applications might include monitoring of the weather or our oceans.
"There are many applications and more and more everyday," says Dave Wakeman from Micropilot.
Wakeman says the UAV is coming into its own where a computer can run the aircraft, if not as well as a human, then better.
In warfare, unmanned combat vehicles can tell you where the enemy is hiding and then carry out missions too dangerous to risk a pilot's life. Along with surveillance in dangerous areas, the trend towards arming UAVs is revolutionizing how wars are being fought.
"I don't know that you'll see dogfights between these systems in the future," says Ronald Sugar from Northrop Grummon, the makers of the Global Hawk.
"But then you probably don't need to, because if you equip them properly, with precision and air to air missiles, you don't have to have a dogfight. You can stand off from quite a distance and be very effective."
So far, it is not expected that UAVs will ever fully replace pilots flying our airplanes. But it is definitely expected there will be a increasing mix of manned and unmanned aircraft.
