these are the titles off CNN, most in the past month or 2:
DHL has new delivery drone.
Guy crashes Drone taking pictures in Yosemite Park
Amazon testing new drones
Facebook to buy drone company for internet connectivity
Google investing in drones?
none of these drones in the articles have heat seeking missiles. In my opinion, the general public, in the past few months, has learned (and been exposed to) drones being multipurpose aerial vehicles, so the term imo wont be going away. of course theres a chance that drone goes away for some other term, but that chance gets slimmer everytime cnn pumps out a new article about yet another harmless drone in the news. is it past the point of no return for "drone"? debatable but i would lean toward yes.
i think if someone made a chart, the past few months has seen way more "normal" drones in the news than military drones, and the news (or any media) is what will determine what gets used. what would also be noted is that UAV and UAS and the other acronyms are probably never used in the media. i dont think the general population could ever remember any of these acronyms. some of us domainers dont even remember them.
