Spycraft 101 - Episode #180 - Evolution of Drone Warfare from Vietnam to the War on Terror with David Axe

Podcast Episode #180 - Evolution of Drone Warfare from Vietnam to the War on Terror with David Axe The Ryan Model 147SC reconnaissance drone nicknamed “Tom Kat” completed 68 missions over North Vietnam before it was finally shot down in September 1974. It was the longest-surviving drone of the entire Vietnam-era program. The concept of pilotless reconnaissance drones grew out of WW2-era technological developments. The earliest American unmanned aerial vehicle was a rudimentary cruise missile called the Kettering Aerial Torpedo, which first flew in 1918. It wasn’t until late 1959 when the US military first became interested in mounting cameras on unmanned aircraft. In February 1962, Ryan Aeronautical began modifying their Q-2C target drones, which eventually grew into a highly secretive reconnaissance program over Southeast Asia. North Vietnamese air defenses were some of the most effective in the world, and drones could potentially prevent the capture or death of American pilots. Civilian employees from Ryan Aeronautical deployed to Okinawa and South Vietnam to maintain the drones. Over the course of the war, 1,106 Lightning Bugs flew 3,435 missions over Southeast Asia, and nearly all of them were eventually shot down. The average survival rate of a Lighting Bug was just four missions, making Tom Kat’s run of 68 missions nearly miraculous. On more than one occasion, a drone’s final photograph was of the incoming SA-2 missile which destroyed it. Although the Department of Defense’s drone program mostly disappeared following the end of the Vietnam War, drones once again proved their worth in the earliest days of the Global War on Terror, beginning with a strike in Afghanistan in October 2001. For episode 181 of the Spycraft 101 podcast, I spoke with David Axe, author of Drone War Vietnam. We discussed the origins of drones from aerial targets to reconnaissance platforms to missile-armed aircraft. Original here: