In 2015, the US Air Force will adopt a robotic blue drone
The euphoria experienced by the military about satellite intelligence capabilities is long over: the photos are too grainy, and it’s difficult to distinguish from orbit weapon mass destruction, which sometimes leads to annoying strategic miscalculations like (further - for wit,) Saddam "theirs" Hussein, yes.
The dream of today's multi-star strategists is reconnaissance from a bird's eye view. And the best option would be to fly inside suspicious structures... For the sake of such an opportunity, the American Defense Department is investing a lot of money in the Air Force Research Laboratory. "Our goal is UAV "The size of a pigeon," says Dr. Leslie Perkins, who heads the Air Force's micro-flying vehicle research team.
The working prototype, made by Theiss Aviation from Ohio and shown this summer at an air show in Florida, looks like a bird not only in size (although this is not a pigeon but a fattened crow): beak, imitation of feathering, tail (propeller hidden in it!). The prototype spy pigeon has a fixed wing and a power reserve of half an hour.
Nevertheless, Dr. Perkins and her team are firmly committed to the 2015 year to design a model that will fit the size of the most disgusting and common bird, will be able to autonomously fly a week (!) With minimal operator intervention, will repeat the bird movements - flapping wings and landing on the wires. The latter is not only for masking, but also for recharging!
And the ornithopter spy of the 2015 model of the year will be able to determine the presence of weapons of mass destruction nearby of all types - nuclear, chemical and bacteriological.
Let potential contractors laugh at the mention of the desired battery life (Dr. Perkins herself admits this) - micro-designers have great plans. In particular, the reconnaissance drone, imitating an insect (to 2030 year).
If our sarcasm disappears in vain, the costs ($ 1,5 million for the micro AVIARI micro drone platform alone) will not be in vain and Dr. Perkins and his colleagues will still be able to create their own ornithopter, one can expect an unprecedented growth of paranoia in countries not friendly with the United States. For example, cybernetic spy pigeons can provoke the universal extermination of real pigeons in the manner of the Maoist genocide of sparrows.
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