UAV Recon

The UAV Recon is a killstreak reward in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, an Assault and Support pointstreak in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and a Scorestreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Overview
The UAV Recon will reveal the position of enemies, displaying them as red dots on the minimap for 30 seconds, even when they are not firing their weapon - unless players are using the UAV Jammer, Cold-Blooded, Assassin, or Ghost as perks. The UAV will update enemy positions every three seconds, and will last for 30 seconds. 10 experience points are earned for calling in a UAV Recon in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, players receive 100 experience points for doing so. UAV Recons will not stack in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare; a new UAV Recon called in the middle of another UAV Recon will not extend the current UAV Recon; instead it will cancel it out, starting a new 30 second cycle immediately after it is used. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, however, UAVs stack - if one is called in while one is already out, it will double the UAV's scanning rate.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Requiring a killstreak of just three, the UAV Recon is easy to acquire, and may be kept until another UAV Recon wears off. Tactical use of UAV Recons are typically reserved for coordinated teams or more serious game modes. In Hardcore game modes, a UAV Recon is required to view the minimap without pausing the game.

UAV Recon is very effective when paired with the Airstrike, allowing the user to select an area where there are more enemies - in order to achieve more kills. This is most effective in Free-for-All.

Enemy players with the UAV Jammer perk will not show up on the player's minimap if a UAV Recon is up, unless they fire an unsilenced weapon.

In Free-for-All, an active UAV Recon will immediately expire once the player who called it in dies.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
UAV Recon makes its return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. UAV Recon is immediately unlocked when a player creates a new profile, and can be used when the player obtains three kills (two with Hardline) as in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Any hostile player with the Cold-Blooded perk will be invisible to the UAV Recon.

The UAV itself appears as a Drone in the sky and may be shot down with any weapon, excluding shotguns. Unlike most other killstreak awards, the UAV takes full damage from bullets. A UAV has 700 health, so generally, around a magazine and half of assault rifle ammo will take it down, and less with Stopping Power Pro. Players are awarded 50 XP for shooting it down (500XP in Search and Destroy).

Unlike in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the UAVs are stackable. If a teammate calls in a UAV while another one is still active, enemies' locations will update on the minimap every one-and-a-half seconds instead of three. Also, unlike in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a UAV will persist through the user's death in Free-for-All game modes.

If the player deploys fifty UAVs, they get a moving version of the UAV symbol (a radar dish) as an emblem. This is much easier than it sounds, especially if tried with Hardline, making it only take two kills per UAV, a total of one hundred kills to get the rotating symbol, or one hundred and fifty kills without it.

UAVs are usually passed up for seemingly better killstreak rewards, making their appearance in multiplayer matches much rarer when compared to their equivalents in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: World at War. However, when playing a team-based match, UAVs become valuable killstreak rewards because they allow both the user and their teammates to see where enemies are (resulting in more efficient killstreaks).

Despite its all-around usefulness, the UAV is generally more often seen used in Search and Destroy game modes, where there are less kills available, and there is much more need to find out where enemies are.

Campaign
In "Mind The Gap", an UAV is briefly used by the SAS at the beginning of the mission.

Multiplayer
The UAV returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and functions identically to the UAV in previous installments, however is airborne for only 23 seconds instead of 30. The UAV is earned after 3 points in the Assault Strike Package and after 4 points in the Support Strike Package. Calling in three UAVs from the same team have the same effect of calling in an Advanced UAV as seen and proven in this video.

The UAV displays enemy positions on the minimap each time it sweeps the area, giving users of the same team an update of where oppositions are located. It can provide a general idea of the enemies, allowing alert users to home in on their position quickly. During Hardcore games, it will allow friendlies to view enemies without having to access the pause menu. 2 UAVs summoned by the same team will double the scan rate and 3 UAVs summoned simultaenously will have the same effect as a standalone Advanced UAV.

The UAV has no flares; thus players with Blind Eye Pro can down them fast; and enemies employing Assassin are immune to its scan. It highlights the minimap rather slowly, and displays neither enemy positional nor directional data unless multiples are activated together. UAVs are required to view the minimap on Hardcore games without using the pause menu, and because it cannot 'kill' enemies, it will chain no points together for the next item in an Assault package.

Multiplayer
The UAV returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and functions similarly to the UAV in previous installments, with one new feature: the player can now earn XP through 'UAV assists', which grants the player who called in the UAV 10 XP per kill by a teammate as long as the UAV is active. It originally required a scorestreak of 350, but with Patch 1.04, the scorestreak is now 425. Like other scorestreak aircraft it can be shot down with normal weapons, faster with the FMJ attachment.

Call of Duty Online
The UAV returns in Call of Duty Online, unchanged from its Modern Warfare 2 counterpart, except in appearance.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
"Unmanned aerial vehicle that shows enemies on the mini-map."

- Description

The UAV reappears in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Multiplayer
The UAV is awarded at 400 points. Functioning similarly to the UAV in Black Ops II, the player is awarded 10 points through "UAV Assists". The UAV lasts 35 seconds.

Exo Survival
The UAV also appears in Exo Survival, obtainable from Orbital Care Packages and given to the Light class by default.

It is only useful if there are regular enemies in the current round the player is in, as enemies such as A.S.T.s, Warbirds, and drones are shown on the radar, so it would be a waste of an UAV to use during the time of there only being these types of enemies. It is also better to use at the start of the round, statistically, because of it showing more enemies than it would in the middle of a round.

Modules

 * Extra Time (Round 2; 3 Upgrade Points): The UAV will remain active for a longer duration.
 * Threat Detection (Round 7; 3 Upgrade Points): Highlight all enemies across the map with a red glow during the time the UAV is active.

Call of Duty: Heroes
The UAV appears as a Hero Skill for Yuri. It reveals all hidden enemy elements within the target area, specifically mines. It has a performing range of 10 tiles and a detecting range of 5.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III
The UAV is set to reappear in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Trivia

 * Players on Xbox Live can purchase a small UAV for 240 Microsoft Points with which the player's Avatar will interact.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, when the drone starts to leave, the Stinger, AT4-HS and the Javelin are unable to lock-on to it. If a missile is launched and the UAV starts to leave, it will register as a hit but not destroy the UAV.
 * The UAV drone always spawns in the airspace south of the map.
 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, if the UAV is called right as the player gets an airstrike, the airstrike will be canceled.

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