Early prototype.
Posted on 10/17/2011 7:40:01 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
A miniature "kamikaze" drone designed to quietly hover in the sky before dive-bombing and slamming into a human target will soon be part of the US Army's arsenal, officials say.
Dubbed the "Switchblade," the robotic aircraft represents the latest attempt by the United States to refine how it takes out suspected militants.
Weighing less than two kilos, the drone is small enough to fit into a soldier's backpack and is launched from a tube, with wings quickly folding out as it soars into the air, according to manufacturer AeroVironment.
Powered by a small electric motor, the Switchblade transmits video in real time from overhead, allowing a soldier to identify an enemy, the company said in a press release last month.
"Upon confirming the target using the live video feed, the operator then sends a command to the air vehicle to arm it and lock its trajectory onto the target," it said.
The drone then flies into the "target," detonating a small explosive.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Wow...less than a second behind you with that pic.
That’ll work well against Tea Party and Oathkeepers leaders.
Great scene from one of my favourite sci-fi flicks. The book was pretty good, too.
Yeah. What could possibly go wrong with this?
Back in the summer there was a video that came around showing these “SwitchBlades” in operation. With the wings folded back, several of them, plus the launch tube and a video monitor will fit in a backpack. A GI can set up the tube and launch one in a minute, and then monitor in real time what its camera is looking at. The battery capacity is such that the weapon can “loiter” at altitude for quite a while, and can be guided right to the selected target by the GI with the video monitor. In the demo I saw, the SwitchBlade took out a vehicle of some kind. It packs a pretty good punch with high explosives. I’ll see if I can locate the video on another ‘puter tomorrow.
Great timing!
These seem like cowardly weapons.
“I just hope these disposable drones go for a lot less than $500,000”
Yeah- what’s the pricetag?
Thank you, POF. That’s the video I was refering to in Reply 26. Now I won’t have to hunt for my copy. Happy trails.
Early prototype.
they called them
`VolksflugenfindenslofendumpkofenReichblasten`
There is no cowardly weapon. There are only cowards.
And to be honest, honcho? I'm all good with amuscading the bad guy from an unexpected direction.
Honor means going home to your kids, and raising them right. Ater making the goblins toasty.
/johnny
Amen
What’s that saying? Something like “If it’s a fair fight, your tactics suck.” ? OTOH, it is getting a bit creepy with some of this stuff. I think they have, or at least experimenting with small insect-like spy drones - like a dragonfly. I guess as long as it is just used against “the bad guys”. Of course that could mean us in a few more years. (And obviously that goes for all weapons).
Stay current, or risk that your genetic line ends.
And you are correct, if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying.
I won't give the counters here that I came up with when I heard about this, but there are quite a few.
There are NO perfect weapon systems. They all have flaws.
Then, it falls back to logistics to figure out what they are, and how to exploit them. Rinse and repeat since the early 1600s.
/johnny
Apparently, Patrons of the Main-Stream Media,
Proponents of White Dis-enpowerment,
and the Advocates of Higher Taxes protesting across the nation, (although promoting anarchy and calling for revolution) are just dandy.
Seems like a cowardly way to settle one's differences.
Upon seeing one's enemies, one should walk over an introduce oneself, demarcate a ring, and settle differences mano-a-mano using Marquess of Queensberry rules.
I am pleased to be jocose, of course. But eventually, weapons the size of insects will make life for your average ground pounder an ephemeral experience indeed.
And so long as it's the other guy's ground pounders, I'm all for it.
Just another Precision Guided Munition but the press goes wild. How long before someone calls this “cowardly” or “unfair”.
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