Drones
or small airplanes, remotely controlled from a source that could be
someone standing on ground below or sitting in front of a computer
console, hundreds of miles away, first came into lime light during
Afghanistan imbroglio, when US secret service CIA used an unmanned
Predator drone in a targeted killing. The strike was in Paktia
province in Afghanistan, near the city of Khost. The intended target
was Osama bin Laden, or at least someone in the CIA had thought that
target to be him. It was a terrible goof up as within days of the
strike, journalists on the ground found out from local Afghans that
the dead men were civilians gathering scrap metal. The media started
asking questions and yet it was clear that a new means of warfare;
using armed drones to attack enemy positions deep inside their
territory had began.
Flying
drones or unmanned remotely controlled aerial craft is not exactly a
new idea and is probably a century old one. An English consulting
engineer, Archibald Montgomery Low ( 1888- 1956) was, the first
person, who thought of remotely controlling a pilotless aircraft.
Using his ideas, the first pilotless, remote controlled aircraft were
built during and shortly after World War I. The development continued
and eventually during world war II, a company known as “Radioplane
Company" manufactured and delivered nearly fifteen thousand
drones, known as Radioplane OQ-2, to the US army during World War II.
Even
with these developments, the pilotless airplanes, also known as
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), were still considered as unreliable
and expensive toys. This view changed dramatically after
developments by Israel in this field. Israeli Air Force used UAV as
electronic decoys, electronic jammers and for real time video
reconnaissance. In 1982 war with Syrian Air Force Israel managed to
quickly destroy dozens of Syrian aircraft with minimal losses. US
today, is the largest user of UAVs, having used them besides
battlefields to domestic surveillance, as a search and rescue tool,
disaster relief, border surveillance and wildfire fighting.
Realising
the tremendous potential of drones, many commercial undertakings have
been experimenting with drones to find out if they could be used for
delivery of products and materials. Amazon Inc, a US company,
unveiled in 2013 a project aimed at delivering packages to
customer's doorstep by using "octocopter" mini-drones with
a mere 30-minute delivery time. Coming nearer home, a Mumbai based
pizza outlet, Francesco's Pizzeria, known for its thin-crust pizzas made with fresh herbs and a "secret" BBQ lime sauce, used for the first time in India an unmanned drone to
execute a delivery by taking the aerial route on May 11, 2014.
No one
perhaps would doubt the potential of use of drones in military and
commercial matters, but can you believe that a drone could be used
even in case of affairs that are closer to our hearts? Well! A
Chinese rock singer and composer, Wang Feng recently showed how it
can be used even in such delicate matters.
A
famous Chinese actress internationally acclaimed for her role in the
movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang Ziyi, was celebrating her
upcoming 36th on the weekend with her boyfriend Wang Feng
and other friends. During this party, a white drone flew toward her.
Wang feng quickly retrieved an engagement ring from inside the drone
and then got down on one knee and popped the question to Zhang,
whether she would marry him? Mighty excited, Zhang said “yes”
before welling up, and the newly engaged couple kissed and embraced.
To complete the show the night sky lit up with pre-arranged
fireworks.
This
probably is just a glimpse of what future holds as far as drones are
concerned. Delivering an engagement ring might have been an idyllic
use for a romantic occasion but there could be practical uses like
delivering documents, medicines, food at a very low cost and utmost
speed. The future for drones seems exceptionally bright.
13th
February 2015
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