What are drones?

The word covers very different things. Strictly speaking, a drone is an aircraft that flies with no pilot on board; the complete system, including the control station and the data link, is called a UAS under European and US regulations. Model aircraft have existed for a century, but what turned drones into a phenomenon was the miniaturization of sensors, lithium batteries and processors, which from 2010 onward enabled stable, cheap multicopters with cameras. At the other extreme are fixed-wing military aircraft with turbine engines and intercontinental range.

Since 2021, EASA regulations, applied in Spain by AESA, classify operations into three categories: open (low risk, drones under 25 kg, within the pilot's visual line of sight and below 120 m), specific (requires a risk assessment and authorization), and certified (equivalent to manned aviation). Operators must register and, depending on the drone class, pass an online exam. Flying near airports or over crowds is prohibited under the open category.

Military drones began as gunnery targets and reconnaissance aircraft, and from the 2000s onward the Predator and the Reaper, capable of firing missiles and staying over an area for an entire day, changed the way surveillance and strikes are carried out. The war in Ukraine has shown the other extreme: thousands of modified commercial drones and cheap loitering munitions used on a massive scale. Between these two poles, collaborative combat drones designed to fly alongside manned fighters are growing, along with defense systems dedicated to detecting and shooting them down.