Long before UAVs dominated the skies, the Ryan Firebee was pushing boundaries as one of the earliest and most advanced jet-powered drones. From Cold War surveillance to live-fire training, its ...

The Ryan Firebee that the DoD received in 1951 would prove to the most revolutionary tool in its armada, more valuable than cruise missiles and integrated electric propulsion combined, and one ...

The Firebee floats down slowly enough to land undamaged. Besides its primary use as a target for fighters, the Firebee has other potential uses, according to the Ryan Aeronautical Co.

Ryan upgraded the Firebee with an Improved Maneuverability Kit (IMK) allowing a Firebee to make sharp 5G turns and banking at 75 degrees, making it a far more challenging target.

The Ryan Aeronautical Co. of San Diego has sold some 2,000 such aircraft to the Defense Department. With a 12-ft. 10-in. wingspan, the Firebee can fly at a maximum altitude of 61,000 ft., ...

The Ryan Firebee is widely considered the first true UAV developed by the US military, however, it was far from their first attempt. Take Operation Aphrodite, which loaded B-17s with high ...

The Ryan Firebee was a target drone, a sleek jet 23-feet long which could fly at over 700 miles per hour on a pre-programmed flight path.

Called the "Ryan Firebee" after its inventor, the drone is 23 feet long with a wingspan of 12 feet. A J-2 jet engine, the same type used in small trainers, powers the Firebee, giving it a range of ...

Founded by T. Claude Ryan in 1934, part of Teledyne from 1969 and purchased by Northrop Grumman in 1999, Ryan Aeronautical company has designed, developed and built some of the most innovative and ...

A newly refurbished Ryan BQM-34F Firebee drone now hangs from the ceiling of a hangar at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, marking the latest addition to an impressive collection of historic ...