Uncrewed Aircraft (UA) do not carry a human operator, but are operated remotely, using various levels of automated functions. They can be a rotary, fixed-wing, or lighter-than-air aircraft and typically include integrated equipment such as propulsion, avionics, fuel, navigation, and communication.

The terms ‘Uncrewed Aircraft’ and ‘Drone’, as well as variations such as ‘Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV)’ or ‘Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)’ are often used interchangeably but are actually deliberately defined to reflect certain classes, attributions or certifications of unmanned systems. Over the past decades, the use of such systems has increased and they provide distinctive capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, precision targeting and precision strike with reduced risk.