''Jig Dog' JD-1D Invader with KDA-1 drone

The naval variant of the Invader JD-1D Jig Dog aircraft was used by the US Navy as a carrier for unmanned aerial vehicles. Several auxiliary squadrons from the aviation units of the fleet were equipped with such aircraft. The drones in this case acted as targets and helped pilots and air defense forces to practice their skills in finding and destroying aerial targets. A typical suspension option was a KDA-1 Firebee drone under one wing and an outboard tank under the other. The planes had a yellow-blue color, which made it easy to recognize them, and the drones were painted in a bright red color, clearly visible against the background of the sky and the ground. Naval Invaders were operated by the US Navy until the 1960s. The KDA-1 drones, which received the new AQM34B marking in 1963, were gradually replaced by a new, heavier model, the BQM-34A