Drones Now Make Up 30 Percent of US Military Aircraft

The United States’ fleet of drone aircraft has expanded so rapidly it now makes up over 30 percent of military planes, a report by the Congressional Research Service found, according to Wired magazine. In 2005, drones amounted to just 5 percent of the fleet

The mission of the drones, typically used for surveillance and for launching attacks, is expanding. The Navy is developing a drone that can take off and land on aircraft carriers and, according to the report, future missions include “stand-off jamming” of electronics; “psychological operations, such as dropping leaflets;” and measuring the amount of radiation in the atmosphere, Wired reported.

The military is also working on making the drones more autonomous and said it hopes to have a “super/hyper-sonic” drone by 2034, according to Wired.