无人驾驶飞机简称“无人机”，英文缩写为“UAV”，是利用无线电遥控设备和自备的程序控制装置操纵的不载人飞机，或者由机载计算机完全地或间歇地自主地操作。
Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as “drones” or “UAVs” in English, are unmanned aircraft that are controlled by radio remote control equipment and self-contained program control devices, or are operated completely or intermittently autonomously by onboard computers.
与有人驾驶的飞机相比，无人机往往更适合那些太“愚钝，肮脏或危险”的任务。无人机按应用领域，可分为军用与民用。军用方面，无人机分为侦察机和靶机。民用方面，无人机+行业应用，是无人机真正的刚需；在航拍、农业、植保、微型自拍、快递运输、灾难救援、观察野生动物、监控传染病、测绘、新闻报道、电力巡检、救灾、影视拍摄、制造浪漫等等领域的应用，大大的拓展了无人机本身的用途，发达国家也在积极扩展行业应用与发展无人机技术。
无人机最早在20世纪20年代出现，1914年第一次世界大战正进行得如火如荼，英国的卡德尔和皮切尔两位将军，向英国军事航空学会提出了一项建议：研制一种不用人驾驶，而用无线电操纵的小型飞机，使它能够飞到敌方某一目标区上空，将事先装在小飞机上的炸弹投下去。这种大胆的设想立即得到当时英国军事航空学会理事长戴·亨德森爵士赏识。他指定由A.M.洛教授率领一班人马进行研制。无人机当时是作为训练用的靶机使用的。是一个许多国家用于描述最新一代无人驾驶飞机的术语。从字面上讲，这个术语可以描述从风筝，无线电遥控飞机，到V-1飞弹从发展来的巡航导弹，但是在军方的术语中仅限于可重复使用的比空气重的飞行器。
Compared with manned aircraft, drones are often more suitable for tasks that are too “dull, dirty or dangerous”. Drones can be divided into military and civilian applications according to their application areas. In the military, drones are divided into reconnaissance aircraft and target aircraft. In the civilian field, drones + industry applications are the real rigid demand for drones; their applications in aerial photography, agriculture, plant protection, micro selfies, express delivery, disaster relief, wildlife observation, infectious disease monitoring, surveying and mapping, news reporting, power inspections, disaster relief, film and television shooting, creating romance, etc. have greatly expanded the use of drones themselves, and developed countries are also actively expanding industry applications and developing drone technology.
Unmanned aerial vehicles first appeared in the 1920s. In 1914, when the First World War was in full swing, British generals Cadell and Pitcher proposed a proposal to the British Military Aviation Society: to develop a small aircraft that does not require human piloting but is controlled by radio, so that it can fly over a certain target area of the enemy and drop the bombs pre-installed on the small aircraft. This bold idea was immediately appreciated by Sir Dai Henderson, the then chairman of the British Military Aviation Society. He designated Professor A.M. Lowe to lead a team to develop it. The drone was used as a training target at the time. It is a term used by many countries to describe the latest generation of unmanned aircraft. Literally, this term can describe cruise missiles developed from kites, radio-controlled aircraft, to V-1 missiles, but in military terminology it is limited to reusable heavier-than-air aircraft.