Posted on 07/09/2010 8:54:16 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, U.S. officials often had to rely on grainy satellite photos to decide whether facilities on the ground were intended for producing weapons of mass destruction. Now imagine that instead of overhead satellite imagery -- or even high-flying unmanned aircraft -- they could send in a flock of microdrones that could actually fly right over, or even inside, such facilities.
Even better, these drones -- equipped with chemical sensors that could pick up possible weapons work with near certainty -- would resemble typical birds, like pigeons, making them nearly impossible to spot. This high-tech spy vision is precisely what Air Force researchers are trying to build, and they believe such a microdrone is not only possible, but could be ready to fly in just five years.
"Ideally, it'll be a bird-sized UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], with the current goal being a pigeon," Dr. Leslie Perkins, the lead for micro air vehicles at the Air Force Research Laboratory, told AOL News. The "birdlike" UAV would also be able to operate with minimal pilot intervention for up to a week at a time, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
Incredible, but they will need some range to accomplish their mission.
No, I can see the whackos protest due to the potential genital damage done to *real* birds attempting to copulate with these drones!
Another example of a nature evolved spinning rotor would be the seed pods of maple trees. One can observe maple tree seeds spinning to earth in the fall to be carred by the wind away from the parent tree. Maple tree seeds autogyro to the ground.
Wow! The maple seed spy camera is amazing.
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