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3 books on Military Air Drones [PDF]
October 05, 2025 | 15 |
These books are covering drone surveillance, strike and reconnaissance capabilities, remote piloting technologies, autonomous flight systems, counter-insurgency applications, intelligence gathering and practical cases of drone warfare.
1. The Russian-Ukrainian War, 2023: A Second Year of Hell and the Dawn of Drone Warfare
2025 by John S Harrel
This book describes the year 2023 of the war between Ukraine and Russia, which the author calls the Dawn of Drones year. In 2022, the war was fought with weapons and systems dating back to the Cold War era of the 1980s, with some improvements in command and control (C2) systems thanks to the use of military computers and Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system. Then Ukraine received modern weapons, munitions and systems from its allies, mainly NATO. Some weapons, such as the British NLAW man-portable anti-tank weapon and the American Javelin anti-tank weapon, used advanced technology. But the 2023 year had become the "year of the drone". Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have had a dramatic effect on the battlefield, causing historic “game change”. Tactical drones with first-person view (FPV) have cheaply and effectively provided reconnaissance and artillery spotting, while kamikaze drones have attacked armored vehicles. Strategically, long-range drones attacked cities and airfields. Amazingly, drones have been able to damage warships in the Black Sea, destroy tanks and other heavy armor on the front lines. A civilian crowdfunding movement has provided tactical drones to Ukrainian combat units. Ukrainian and Russian industrial enterprises have begun mass-producing drones of all types. Large-scale military drone deliveries to Ukraine have given a huge advantage at the operational level, while modified civilian-class drones have impacted tactics at the lowest level. In some cases, kamikaze drones became so numerous that they began to be used to attack not only tanks, but also individual soldiers.
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2. The Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence, and the Battle for the Future
2021 by Seth J. Frantzman
The author of this book investigates why drones have not yet become a priority military technology? On the one hand, we already have the technology that allows drones to stay in the air for several days, carry long-range missiles. We have mini-drones that soldiers can use in the jungle for reconnaissance and dropping tear gas. However, there are two problems. The first is the slow development of drone platforms. Military leadership is slow to implement new platforms: if they already have F-16 fighter or M-16 rifle, they will use this platform for decades. The same with drones - there is a Predator model and they just make it faster or equip it with more weapons, radars and cameras. It takes a decade to develop new drone platform in Europe and the US didn't export drones and allowed China to catch up and overtake them. The second problem is that the military has not yet realized the power of drones. While futurists envisioned skies full of drones, real-life commanders reject this future. No country produces thousands of drones to arm their army. But there are glimmers of hope: Iran’s drone swarms have forced Western countries to rethink their air defenses. The war in Libya has shown that cheap Turkish drones can destroy Russian air defenses, turning them into a kind of instant air army.
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3. The Drone Age: How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace
2020 by Michael J. Boyle
In this book, the author correctly noted that the word "drone" is currently a very controversial term. The US Air Force generally rejects the term "drone" because all its UAVs are controlled by people while term "drone" can create the impression that the machine flies autonomously. The current generation of military drones - for example, the MQ-9 Reaper or RQ-4 Global Hawk - are no more autonomous than a passenger airliner. For this reason, some believe that drones should be called remotely piloted aircrafts (RPA). The most famous drone today, the MQ-1 Predator, is closer to a military fighter like the F-16. It has a wingspan of 16.7 m, carries a payload of 1020 kg at takeoff and can fly 1239 km. For comparison, let's take a look at regular quadcopter used by hobbyists and small companies for filming or delivering goods. The popular Phantom 3, made by Chinese company DJI, weighs about 1.2 kg and can fly up to 2 km. The Phantom 3 has a good camera, but it can't carry much cargo and is small enough to fit in your hands.
Download PDF
How to download PDF:
1. Install Gooreader
2. Enter Book ID to the search box and press Enter
3. Click "Download Book" icon and select PDF*
* - note that for yellow books only preview pages are downloaded
1. The Russian-Ukrainian War, 2023: A Second Year of Hell and the Dawn of Drone Warfare
2025 by John S Harrel
This book describes the year 2023 of the war between Ukraine and Russia, which the author calls the Dawn of Drones year. In 2022, the war was fought with weapons and systems dating back to the Cold War era of the 1980s, with some improvements in command and control (C2) systems thanks to the use of military computers and Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system. Then Ukraine received modern weapons, munitions and systems from its allies, mainly NATO. Some weapons, such as the British NLAW man-portable anti-tank weapon and the American Javelin anti-tank weapon, used advanced technology. But the 2023 year had become the "year of the drone". Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have had a dramatic effect on the battlefield, causing historic “game change”. Tactical drones with first-person view (FPV) have cheaply and effectively provided reconnaissance and artillery spotting, while kamikaze drones have attacked armored vehicles. Strategically, long-range drones attacked cities and airfields. Amazingly, drones have been able to damage warships in the Black Sea, destroy tanks and other heavy armor on the front lines. A civilian crowdfunding movement has provided tactical drones to Ukrainian combat units. Ukrainian and Russian industrial enterprises have begun mass-producing drones of all types. Large-scale military drone deliveries to Ukraine have given a huge advantage at the operational level, while modified civilian-class drones have impacted tactics at the lowest level. In some cases, kamikaze drones became so numerous that they began to be used to attack not only tanks, but also individual soldiers.
Download PDF
2. The Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence, and the Battle for the Future
2021 by Seth J. Frantzman
The author of this book investigates why drones have not yet become a priority military technology? On the one hand, we already have the technology that allows drones to stay in the air for several days, carry long-range missiles. We have mini-drones that soldiers can use in the jungle for reconnaissance and dropping tear gas. However, there are two problems. The first is the slow development of drone platforms. Military leadership is slow to implement new platforms: if they already have F-16 fighter or M-16 rifle, they will use this platform for decades. The same with drones - there is a Predator model and they just make it faster or equip it with more weapons, radars and cameras. It takes a decade to develop new drone platform in Europe and the US didn't export drones and allowed China to catch up and overtake them. The second problem is that the military has not yet realized the power of drones. While futurists envisioned skies full of drones, real-life commanders reject this future. No country produces thousands of drones to arm their army. But there are glimmers of hope: Iran’s drone swarms have forced Western countries to rethink their air defenses. The war in Libya has shown that cheap Turkish drones can destroy Russian air defenses, turning them into a kind of instant air army.
Download PDF
3. The Drone Age: How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace
2020 by Michael J. Boyle
In this book, the author correctly noted that the word "drone" is currently a very controversial term. The US Air Force generally rejects the term "drone" because all its UAVs are controlled by people while term "drone" can create the impression that the machine flies autonomously. The current generation of military drones - for example, the MQ-9 Reaper or RQ-4 Global Hawk - are no more autonomous than a passenger airliner. For this reason, some believe that drones should be called remotely piloted aircrafts (RPA). The most famous drone today, the MQ-1 Predator, is closer to a military fighter like the F-16. It has a wingspan of 16.7 m, carries a payload of 1020 kg at takeoff and can fly 1239 km. For comparison, let's take a look at regular quadcopter used by hobbyists and small companies for filming or delivering goods. The popular Phantom 3, made by Chinese company DJI, weighs about 1.2 kg and can fly up to 2 km. The Phantom 3 has a good camera, but it can't carry much cargo and is small enough to fit in your hands.
Download PDF
How to download PDF:
1. Install Gooreader
2. Enter Book ID to the search box and press Enter
3. Click "Download Book" icon and select PDF*
* - note that for yellow books only preview pages are downloaded
