Automatic flight control system (AFCS) for a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle is described in this paper. Development process and block diagram of the AFCS are introduced. The flight control law for longitudinal and lateral channel autopilot is designed using optimization process. In this procedure, the performance index is composed of desired location of closed loop system poles and H$_2$norm of the resultant flight control system. This procedure is applied to the autopilot design of an unmanned target vehicle. Performance of the AFCS is evaluated by processor-in-the-loop simulation test and flight test. These results show that the AFCS has acceptable performance fur low cost UAV.