The
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) employs
Unmanned Aerial Systems
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
(UAS) across all echelons to support tactical, operational, and strategic operations. The types of UAS that are used in these operations are categorized into "Groups" according to their size and capability. Previous to 2010, UAS were categorized into "Tiers" or "Classes" separately by each branch of the military. In order to promote a homogeneous categorization, the "group system" was developed.
DoD UAS Groups
The "Group" system has 5 categories, from 1 to 5, with each category increasing in capability.
Tier System (Deprecated)
The previous (used circa 2004 - 2011)
classification system, termed the "Tier System", was used by military planners to designate the various individual aircraft elements in an overall usage 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,
U.S. Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...
, and
U.S. Army each have their own tier system, and the systems are themselves not integrated.
US 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) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...
.
* 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.
* Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The
RQ-3 DarkStar
The RQ-3 DarkStar (known as Tier III- or "Tier three minus" during development) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Its first flight was on March 29, 1996. The Department of Defense terminated DarkStar in January 1999, after determining the UAV ...
was originally intended to fulfill this role before it was "terminated". Role now filled by
RQ-170 Sentinel
The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the USAF has released few detail ...
.
US 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
The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a co ...
and the
AAI RQ-7 Shadow.
* 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, target acquisition and battle damage assessment ...
tactical unmanned aircraft system by
AAI Corporation. 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>
US 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 Aero ...
.
Future Combat Systems (Cancelled)
Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States 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.
* Class II: For companies (cancelled).
References
{{reflist
United States Department of Defense
Unmanned military aircraft of the United States