Abstract: With the accelerated evolution of modern warfare toward informatization and intelligentization, the uncertainty of battlefield environments has increased markedly and the intensity of confrontation has continued to escalate, imposing more stringent demands on unmanned combat systems in terms of autonomy, survivability, and cooperative combat capability. As one of the critical assets in intelligent warfare systems, military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are undergoing a profound transformation in autonomous intelligence technologies, with their development trajectory progressing from human-in-the-loop remote operation and semi-autonomous control toward highly autonomous and even swarm-based intelligent operation. Centered on this evolutionary process, this paper systematically reviews the developmental trajectory of autonomous intelligence technologies for military UAVs, and analyzes the inherent logic and key driving factors underlying the transition from single-platform autonomy to clustered and collaborative operations. On this basis, it provides a focused survey of the fundamental architectures, technical characteristics, and research progress of key technologies, including onboard edge computing, autonomous perception and situational awareness, autonomous decision-making and mission planning, autonomous navigation and flight control, as well as intelligent collaboration and swarm control. The enabling role of deep integration of artificial intelligence techniques in enhancing UAV autonomous capabilities is also examined. Furthermore, in conjunction with emerging operational concepts, future development directions of autonomous intelligence technologies for military UAVs are analyzed, and the critical technical challenges and engineering implementation issues under highly contested and strongly interfered environments are summarized. This work aims to offer a systematic and thought-provoking reference for sustained research and integrated development of autonomous intelligence technologies for military UAVs.

Key words: military unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous intelligence, artificial intelligence, swarm cooperation, mission planning, intelligent warfare