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drone

drone

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

drone or remotely piloted vehicle, a pilotless craft guided by remote control. Aircraft, ships, and land vehicles can be designed or outfitted as drones, although underwater vessels—both piloted and pilotless—are usually called submersibles . Small, relatively inexpensive military drones are used as targets in combat practice, while high-performance models may be used in hazardous reconnaissance missions and to carry and launch missiles against enemy targets without exposing pilots and their far more expensive aircraft to antiaircraft fire. Depending on the mission, drones can be equipped with armament, radar, video cameras, lasers, or sensors for chemical or biological weapons. Guidance of the drone can originate from an airplane, a ship, a ground station, or a satellite link. Building upon the successful use of drones in the Second Persian Gulf War, the Homeland Security Department is planning to use unmanned aircraft to track drug smugglers, illegal immigrants, and terrorists along the U.S. borders. Contemplated civilian uses include replacing stationary video cameras and sensors for traffic control, for monitoring crops, to help fight forest fires, and for atmospheric research.

Early attempts to use unmanned aerial vehicles are documented as early as the U.S. Civil War. Both Union and Confederate troops launched balloons loaded with explosives in the hope that the balloons would come down inside ammunition or supply depots and explode, but the balloons were at the mercy of the prevailing winds and proved largely ineffective. Toward the end of World War II the Japanese launched similarly ineffective high-altitude balloons loaded with incendiary and other explosives in the hope that winds would carry them to the United States, where they would start forest fires. A U.S. project at about the same time, called "Operation Aphrodite," involved using a modified manned aircraft as a cruise missile. The pilot would take off, get the plane to altitude, pass control to a manned aircraft through a radio link, and then bail out. The somewhat more successful German V-1 was essentially an early cruise missile , not a remote-controlled drone. By the Vietnam War the technology to launch and control drones had evolved. Initially, pilotless aircraft equipped with video cameras flew over North Vietnam to provide reconnaissance data; drones were later used to drop leaflets, interfere with electronic communications, and locate surface-to-air missile batteries.

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drone

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

drone / drōn/ • v. [intr.] make a continuous low humming sound: in the far distance a machine droned. ∎  speak tediously in a dull monotonous tone: he reached for another beer while Jim droned on. ∎  move with a continuous humming sound: traffic droned up and down the street. • n. 1. a low continuous humming sound: he nodded off to the drone of the car engine. ∎ inf. a monotonous speech: only twenty minutes of the hour-long drone had passed. ∎  a continuous musical note, typically of low pitch. ∎  a musical instrument, or part of one, sounding such a continuous note, in particular (also drone pipe) a pipe in a bagpipe or (also drone string) a string in an instrument such as a hurdy-gurdy or a sitar. 2. a male bee in a colony of social bees, which does no work but can fertilize a queen. ∎ fig. a person who does no useful work and lives off others. 3. a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft or missile.

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drone

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

drone male of the honey-bee. OE. drā́n, drǣ́n; corr. to OS. drān, dreno, MLG. drāne, drōne, (with e-grade) OHG. treno (MHG. tren(e), G. dial. träne), prob. f. *dran- *dren *drun- boom (cf. MDu. drōnen, Du. dreunen, LG. drönen, Icel. drynja roar), with which Gr. anthrḗnē wild bee, tenthrēnē kind of wasp, have been connected. The Eng. form drone (XV; cf. ME., mod. dial. drane) is perh. — (M)LG. drōne. Cf. drone hum, buzz (sb. and vb.). XVI.
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T. F. HOAD. "drone." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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drone

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

drone a male bee in a colony of social bees, which does no work but can fertilize a queen; in figurative usage (from the early 16th century), a person who does no useful work and lives off others.

In the stories of P. G. Wodehouse, the Drones Club was the club frequented by Bertie Wooster and his friends.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "drone." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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drone

A Dictionary of Biology | 2004 | Copyright

drone A fertile male in a colony of social bees, especially the honeybee (Apis mellifera). The drones die after mating with the queen bee as the male reproductive organs explode within the female.
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drone

The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military | 2001 | Copyright

drone n.a vehicle designed to be remotely controlled during operations on land or sea or in the air. See also remotely piloted vehicle; unmanned aerial vehicle.
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drone

A Dictionary of Ecology | 2004 | | Copyright

drone The male of ants, bees, and wasps, whose only function is to mate with fertile females: the drone contributes nothing to the maintenance of the colony.
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "drone." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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drone

A Dictionary of Zoology | 1999 | | Copyright

drone The male of ants, bees, and wasps, whose only function is to mate with fertile females: the drone contributes nothing to the maintenance of the colony.
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "drone." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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drone

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | Copyright

drone. Pipe or pipes sounding continuous note of fixed pitch as a permanent bass, e.g. of bagpipes. Hence drone bass applied to orch. mus.
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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "drone." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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drone

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

drone •alone, atone, Beaune, bemoan, blown, bone, Capone, clone, Cohn, Cologne, condone, cone, co-own, crone, drone, enthrone, flown, foreknown, foreshown, groan, grown, half-tone, home-grown, hone, Joan, known, leone, loan, lone, moan, Mon, mown, ochone, outflown, outgrown, own, phone, pone, prone, Rhône, roan, rone, sewn, shown, Simone, Sloane, Soane, sone, sown, stone, strown, throne, thrown, tone, trombone, Tyrone, unbeknown, undersown, zone •Dione • backbone • hambone •breastbone • aitchbone •tail bone, whalebone •cheekbone • shin bone • hip bone •wishbone • splint bone • herringbone •thigh bone • jawbone • marrowbone •knuckle bone • collarbone •methadone • headphone • cellphone •heckelphone • payphone • Freefone •radio-telephone, telephone •videophone • francophone •megaphone • speakerphone •allophone • Anglophone • xylophone •gramophone • homophone •vibraphone • microphone •saxophone • answerphone •dictaphone •sarrusophone, sousaphone •silicone • pine cone • snow cone •flyblown • cyclone • violone •hormone • pheromone • Oenone •chaperone • progesterone •testosterone

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Drones -- who makes them and who has them?
News Wire article from: Times of Central Asia; 2/4/2012
Drones (Imran Khan urges army to quit US alliance ).
News Wire article from: PPI - Pakistan Press International; 10/29/2011
Drone warfare and the law of armed conflict.
Magazine article from: Denver Journal of International Law and Policy; 12/22/2010

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