There was a "drone" that attacked the Japanese army in the Pacific War 80 years of experience Roots are super high-tech weapons

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Drone born as a U.S. military aircraft during the Pacific War

"UAV II type for disaster" that the Ground Self-Defense Force is promoting. So-called small drone (Image: Ground Self-Defense Force).

"Drone" that I hear something in recent years. The term for unmanned aerial vehicles has been heard frequently since around 2000, so it may seem like it was recently developed, but it was first introduced as a weapon of the US military during the Pacific War. [Photo] The Japanese ship drone that was bombed by the "drone" 80 years ago was originally a common name for unmanned aerial vehicles that are called variously in English-speaking countries, such as UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and UAS (unmanned aerial system). , Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the RQ-1 (MQ-1) "Predator" and MQ-9 "Reaper" used by the US military in conflict areas are also drones. The general image of a drone is that it is small and has multiple rotors like a helicopter. It is often used for shooting from the sky, such as when shooting online videos and TV programs, but since it is cheap and easy to use, there is concern that it will be used for military purposes including terrorism as a reconnaissance and attack aircraft. There are also legal restrictions such as prohibition of flight in urban areas.

The first drone is radar and TV camera radio guidance

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

In the early days of the Pacific War, the first unmanned attack aircraft developed by the US Navy was the TDN-1. The aircraft, also known as an unmanned bomb, was planned to carry bombs and torpedoes, but what was most epoch-making was the incorporation of the latest technologies of the time, radar and television. Radar was put into practical use in the United Kingdom just before World War II, and was used in various countries including Japan during the war, but the TDN-1 was equipped with it even though it was an unmanned aerial vehicle. The television developed in the 1930s was broadcast on a trial basis at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and after the outbreak of the war, the main broadcast began in parts of the United States and Germany. So to speak, the TDN-1 was one of the first to adopt the latest technology at that time and put it into practical use as a control technology for unmanned aerial vehicles. It was developed under the name of "Assault Drone" using the meaning word. The actual TDN-1 was completed as early as 1942 (Showa 17), the year after the Pacific War began. The aircraft was made of wood, the legs were fixed, and there was a cockpit for people to ride for test flights. The test flight was conducted on the Great Lakes in the continental United States using a training aircraft carrier trained by Navy carrier-based pilots to take off and land. The plan was to load a 2000-pound bomb or a torpedo, but it wasn't used in combat because of its low speed of 233km / h and the outdated design of the aircraft. However, in parallel with the development of TDN-1, the US Navy also requested a commercial aircraft manufacturer to make a drone.

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