Brief History of Drones Today’s cruise missiles have a very well-known precursor known as the aerial or naval torpedo. However, this type of weapon was supposed to be dropped into water in order to reach its target and therefore was associated with the navy.
These were first introduced in World War I and were still popular during World War II. These devices and other aircraft used by the military personnel without a pilot on board were later termed unmanned aerial vehicles. This term became popular in the early 1990’s when robotic aircraft were developed to carry out various operations.