Ryan Firebee

Under a variety of designations including Q-2, AQM-34, and BQM-34, the Ryan Firebee was one of the first militarily important unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). When it was introduced in 1958, the term UAV had not yet been introduced, and it used a term from World War II, drone. [[Image:Ryan Firebee XQ-2C BQM-34.jpg|thumb|left|First XQ-2C built and flown, established a record of 25 flights at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., from 1958 to 1960 Originally, Ryan developed the Firebee as a high-speed target for both surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and air-to-air missiles (AAM), for both training and testing. The first version was called the Q-2, and, since it was considered experimental, it also had the designation XQ-2.

Depending on the mission, it was either launched from an aircraft or from the ground. Its human operator could be in the launching aircraft, on the ground, or in a separate controlling aircraft. When the mission was over, or if the drone version were hit by a "friendly" missile and disabled, it would deploy a parachute and land gently. In some later versions where it flew reconnaissance missions over hostile territory, if it were disabled, it would self-destruct.

Variants

There were four major series of application, some with multiple versions of the aircraft:

• Subsonic Targets: BQM-34A, AQM-34B/C, MQM-34D, BQM-34S
• Supersonic Targets: BQM-34E/F/T
• Reconnaissance RPVs: AQM-34G/H/J/K/L/M/N/P/Q/R/U/V
• Attack and Multimission RPVs: BGM-34A/B/C

Even within these categories, there were unusual applications, such as sending all available target drones over Baghdad in the first hours of Operation DESERT STORM, following initial attacks by "invisible" F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft and hard-to-detect Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Firebees were sent there to be seen, and encourage the defenders to turn on their radars — so the radars would become visible to AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, which would attack the radars.

General characteristics

These refer to the initial version; there were considerable performance improvements, including supersonic speed, over the long service life of the vehicle.

• Engine: Continental J69-T-29 of 1,700 lbs. thrust
• Maximum speed: 580 mph
• Stalling speed: 203 mph
• Range: 600 miles
• Service ceiling: 51,300 ft.
• Span: 12 ft. 11 in.
• Length: 22 ft. 11 in.
• Height: 6 ft. 7 in.
• Weight: 2,062 lbs. loaded