When does a one-way drone become a missile?

If an uncrewed drone hits a target with explosives, is it a drone or a missile?

The participants do not settle a precise boundary. Propulsion and onboard control suggest differences, but those distinctions are narrowing and practitioner terminology still matters.

An uncrewed vehicle carrying explosives into a target raises a problem of terminology. Onboard guidance and propulsion offer possible distinctions between a drone and a missile, but the participants find both difficult to use as firm boundaries. Glynn Stewart associates drones with quadcopters and missiles with rocket or jet propulsion, then explicitly declines to draw a definitive line. Alex Clarke notes the narrowing difference in onboard control and the need to consider what practitioners call the systems. The question remains open in this exchange.