Drones are big thing for today’s military from the huge Predator flying drones to the dog-like pack drone being developed with the military. The use of drones seems almost unlimited and now the soldier in the field will be able to have their own personal drones to use.

Called Switchblade this unmanned aerial system (UAS) from AeroVironment is light enough that it can carried by a single soldier, deployed in minutes and capable of sending back video to the soldier on the ground. It is also silent due to the fact that it is electric powered which can make it doubly difficult to detect at night.

The real kicker to the Switchblade though is that it can also carry a warhead, making it a portable weapon so a soldier can take out a target of opportunity should the occasion arise. It is “intelligent” enough due to the on-board imaging sensors that it is capable of identifying, tracking and guiding itself right to that target.

It is because of this expendability that the Switchblade is referred to as a kamikaze drone but depending on its actual success in the field we will probably be seeing more of these types of single use drones in the future.

via GizMag

US Military to get Kamikaze drones is a post from: The Inquisitr

The military sure seems to have a great big love affair with unmanned flight, or anything that has the word ‘drone’ attached to it, and that love affair just got a big boost today as Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, an unmanned stealth plane, achieved cruise mode speed for the first time in testing.

The flight which took place on September 30, 2011, at the Edwards Air Force Base, saw the unmanned plane retract its landing gear and fly in formation for the first time. The other purpose of the flight, to test navigation hardware and software, also got the big thumbs up.

With a wingspan of 62 feet the plane has a range of over 2,100 nautical miles and a payload capacity of 4,500 pounds. It can also fly at high subsonic speeds which will make it faster than either of its drone brethren, the Predator and Reaper.

This is considered to be a major step towards the planes going into production and being shipped out to aircraft carriers.

Having passed this stage of its testing the X-47B has surpassed expectations and Northrup Grumman is looking forward to the next round of tests to further prove its unmanned stealth plane.

via CNet

Unmanned stealth plane achieves 1st cruise mode flight is a post from: The Inquisitr

There isn’t much said about it but it is well known in security circles that the Predator and Reaper drones used by the American military do have security flaws with the most well known one being that the video sent to US ground troops is unencrypted.

However word has broken that about the fact that a computer virus has infected Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilot’s keystrokes as they fly remote missions over Afghanistan and other war zones.

It seems that the virus was first notice almost two weeks ago by the military and its Host-Based Security System. This discovery hasn’t stopped any of the missions being flown and there has been no confirmation yet of any classified data being sent to outside sources.

Ars Technica is reporting that sources within the military and familiar with the infection are saying that every effort to remove the infection is being taken but every time they remove one instance of the virus another replaces it.

Military security experts aren’t sure how the infection got started int he first place and they aren’t sure of just how far the infection has spread but they are pretty sure that it has hit both classified and unclassified machines.

This uncertainty leaves open the possibility that classified inc=formation may have indeed been captured via the virus payload and sent to outside individuals.

The US Reaper and Predator drone fleet hit by virus is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Obama administration has announced plans to send more U.S. Drones into Africa, specifically in the areas of Somalia and Yemen where the current administration believes they would best be able to track Islamic militants.

To support the new aircraft a base is being built in Ethiopia, while drones are already being deployed from the US base in Djibouti.

According to the Washington Post a “drone base in the Seychelles will be used to target Islamic militant groups, as well as pirates that plague the Indian Ocean island nation.”

The drones which can be controlled from bases in the US can be configured for surveillance or missile strikes.

Plans to release the drones over the African skies comes as new intelligence shows militant Islamic groups increasing their co-operation among various groups.

A senior US official tells the Wall Street Journal:

“We do not know enough about the leaders of the al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa,”  while they added, ”Is there a guy out there saying, ‘I am the future of al Qaeda?’ Who is the next Osama bin Laden?”

U.S. Drones are being more actively used for spying and battle purposes however they are not without their faults, a recently downed CIA Drone in Pakistan led officials in that area to fight with Taliban insurgents. When unmanned U.S. technology falls from the sky it often means that technology is going to fall into the hands of the Chinese or other military operations.

Do you think the U.S. should be added even more drones to their already over extended territorial pursuits.

Obama Sending More Drones To Africa, Hopes To Target Islamic Militants is a post from: The Inquisitr

These drone aircraft are getting pretty cool. From bigger to smaller to things like this really neat remote-controlled helicopter all kinds of uses are being found but this one has an advantage over other drones – it can pick up packages and fly off with them.

The Yale Aerial Manipulator can fly up to 80 miles per hour and carry objects that weight up to 4.5 pounds. It does this using a robotic hand that has four fingers, runs on a single motor and built out a material meant to help absorb shock and vibration.

via io9

Drone helicopter performs flying snatch and grab [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

It appears that the police in Houston Texas are more than a little interested in using unmanned drones in the city to keep an eye on things. While I won’t go as far as some have the idea though that all the testing is being done under a veil of secrecy is a little bothersome.

Houston Police secretly testing unmanned drones [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

A day doesn’t go by where we aren’t pummeled with new apps and uses for the iPhone. Some are good, some suck rotten lemons, some are stupid and then there are those that are admittedly just a little on the strange side.

The idea of having an app that could control one of the hellfire missile carrying drones that are the current favorite of the U.S. Military brings some pretty images to mind. It could give a whole new meaning to things like road rage – someone pisses you off on the road and the next thing they know they have a drone, with missiles primed, flying at them controlled by some deranged idiot with an iPhone and a grudge.

While that scenario might be a little outrageous the idea of controlling drones using iPhones is actually a project in progress by MIT Professor Missy Cummings and her crew of 30 iPhone toting students.

Actually, using an iPhone was her undergrads’ idea — because experimenting with it as a basis for a new robot controller meant she’d have to buy them all iPhones of their own. “We had the idea in June,” Cummings told Danger Room. “In six weeks, we went from the idea to a real flight test,” using MIT’s indoor robot range. (See video.) The total cost? $5,000 for a new, commercially available, quad-rotor robot — plus the cost of iPhones for her crew.

The iPhone bot controller is basically just an app, like any other. It relies on only the iPhone’s existing gear, and the phone can still be used for regular calls, web-browsing, texting, etc. HAL’s bot-wrangling app sends GPS coordinates to the robot, which navigates around using its own, built-in “sense-and-avoid” capabilities. Along the way, the bot can stream video or snapshots back to the iPhone.

Source : Wired – Danger Room :: New Use for Your iPhone: Controlling Drones

The professor’s favorite non military use of this idea?

Cummings’ own favorite: “Being able to launch one out of the window and fly it down to the Starbucks, to tell me how many people are in line, so I know when to get coffee.”

Next up – your own iPhone controlled drone is a post from: The Inquisitr

Pretty soon you may have to be very careful about trying to kill that flying insect that seems to be watching you. If the U.S. military has their way it could very well be doing just that. The military has been working for sometime on tiny – even micro – sized drones that resemble bugs or birds. As cool as that might sound to some it is even more interesting to view the video and see how they want these flying (or crawling?) bugs to become biomorphic weapons.

"Individual MAVs may perform direct-attack missions," says the video’s gravelly-voiced narrator. "They can be equipped with incapacitation chemicals, combustible payloads, or even explosives for precision-targeting capability."

Cool.

[hat tip to Danger Room]

Watch what you’re hitting with that flyswatter [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

A growing segment of the US Armed Forces arsenal is its collection of Predators and Reapers otherwise known as drones. These remotely controlled flying spies and killers are constantly seeing action in multiple places around the world as everyone from the US Border Patrol to the US Coast Guard wants a piece of this flying technology.

It is almost getting to the point where these flying wonders are becoming passe and old fashioned. Not one to rest on its technological laurels the US Special Forces Command (SOCOM) is upping the flying drone stakes when it takes possession of a radically new drone from Boeing. This revolutionary new drone is actually a helicopter with the moniker of the A160T Hummingbird.

According to Janes SOCOM has already begun taking delivery of the Hummingbird which folks in the know are saying can be used for re-supply and surveillance missions. Additionally it these birds will soon be equipped with a new radar that can identify enemy targets hiding beneath dense tree cover.

Apparently SOCOM will have 10 of these super quiet Hummingbirds ready for action by the end of November of this year.

[graphic courtesy of Danger Room]

This ain’t your normal hummingbird is a post from: The Inquisitr