The
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...
(DoD) classifies
unmanned aerial systems
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human Aircraft pilot, pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter H ...
(UAS) into "Groups" according to their size and capability, a joint system that replaced the service branches' separate categorization schemes in 2011.
The "Group" system has five categories, whose capabilities increase with the number.
Earlier categorization schemes
Tier systems
From about 2004 to 2011,
U.S. military planners used various "Tier systems" to designate the various elements in an overall plan for integrated operations.
The Tiers do not refer to specific models of aircraft, but rather roles the aircraft would fill. The
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
,
U.S. Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...
, and
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
each have their own tier system.
U.S. Air Force tiers
* Tier N/A: Small/Micro UAV. Role filled by BATMAV (
Wasp Block III).
* Tier I: Low altitude, long endurance. Role filled by the
Gnat 750.
* Tier II:
Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE). Role currently filled by the Predator and
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomi ...
.
* Tier II+: High Altitude, Long Endurance conventional UAV (or HALE UAV). Altitude: 60,000 to , less than airspeed, radius, 24‑hour time-on-station capability. Complementary to the Tier III- aircraft. Role currently filled by the
RQ-4 Global Hawk
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, Unmanned aerial vehicle, remotely-piloted surveillance aircraft introduced in 2001. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical (now part of Northrop Grumman), and known as Tier II+ d ...
.
* Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The
RQ-3 DarkStar was originally intended to fulfill this role before it was "terminated". Role now filled by
RQ-170 Sentinel.
U.S. Marine Corps tiers
* Tier N/A: Micro UAV.
Wasp III fills this role, driven largely by the desire for commonality with the USAF BATMAV.
* Tier I: Role currently filled by the
Dragon Eye but all ongoing and future procurement for the Dragon Eye program is going now to the
RQ-11B Raven B.
* Tier II: Role currently filled by the
Scan Eagle and the
AAI RQ-7 Shadow
The AAI RQ-7 Shadow is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the United States Army, Australian Army, Swedish Army, Turkish Air Force and Italian Army for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition and battle damage assess ...
.
* Tier III: For two decades, the role of medium range tactical UAV was filled by the Pioneer UAV. In July 2007, the Marine Corps announced its intention to retire the aging Pioneer fleet and transition to the
RQ-7 Shadow
The AAI RQ-7 Shadow is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the United States Army, Australian Army, Swedish Army, Turkish Air Force and Italian Army for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition and battle damage assessm ...
tactical unmanned aircraft system by
AAI Corporation
AAI Corporation is an aerospace and defense development and manufacturing firm, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, US. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation, AAI was acquired by Textron in 2007. It currently opera ...
. The first Marine Shadow systems have already been delivered, and training for their respective Marine Corps units is underway.
Role currently filled by the AAI RQ-7 Shadow, although USMC planners do not view this aircraft as meeting future Tier III requirements.
USMC RQ-7 Shadow Homepage
/ref>
U.S. Army tiers
* Tier I: Small UAV. Role filled by the RQ-11A/B Raven.
* Tier II: Short Range Tactical UAV. Role filled by the RQ-7A/B Shadow 200.
* Tier III: Medium Range Tactical UAV. Role formerly filled by the MQ-5A/B Hunter and IGNAT/IGNAT-ER, but has transitioned to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) MQ-1C Gray Eagle
The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle (previously the Warrior; also called Sky Warrior and ERMP or Extended-Range Multi-Purpose) is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It was developed by General Atomics Ae ...
.
Future Combat Systems (Cancelled)
UAS were grouped in four classes under the Future Combat Systems, which was the Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009:
* Class I: For small units. Role to be filled by all new UAV with some similarity to Micro Air Vehicle
A micro air vehicle (MAV), or micro aerial vehicle, is a class of man-portable miniature UAVs whose size enables them to be used in low-altitude, close-in support operations. Modern MAVs can be as small as 5 centimeters - compare Nano Air Vehi ...
.
* Class II: For companies (cancelled).
References
{{reflist
United States Department of Defense
Unmanned military aircraft of the United States