Is that
really just a fly? Swarms of cyborg insect drones are the future of military
surveillance
(June 20, 2012) The kinds
of drones making the headlines daily are the heavily armed CIA and U.S. Army
vehicles which routinely strike targets in Pakistan - killing terrorists and
innocents alike.
But the
real high-tech story of surveillance drones is going on at a much smaller
level, as tiny remote controlled vehicles based on insects are already likely
being deployed.
Over recent
years a range of miniature drones, or micro air vehicles (MAVs), based on the
same physics used by flying insects, have been presented to the public.
The fear
kicked off in 2007 when reports of bizarre flying objects hovering above
anti-war protests sparked accusations that the U.S. government was accused of
secretly developing robotic insect spies.
Official
denials and suggestions from entomologists that they were actually dragonflies
failed to quell speculation, and Tom Ehrhard, a retired Air Force colonel and
expert on unmanned aerial craft, told the Daily Telegraph at the time that
'America can be pretty sneaky.'
The
following year, the US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as
bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings
to 'photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.'