Israel making drone the size of a credit card

dawn ^ | 2/22/03

[knak]

TEL AVIV, Feb 22: The state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries are developing a tiny Remote Pilotless Vehicle (RPV) that can carry a camera and send pictures, the national Ha'aretz newspaper reported Thursday.

The RPV weighs only 100 grams and has wings the size of a credit card, the report said.

Test flights of a prototype had shown it could fly on batteries for 20 minutes and the images it relays could be seen on a laptop or palm computer, it was reported.

Among the advantages of a miniature drone were that enemy forces are unable to spot it or pick it up by radar. The device was also small enough to fly into an open window and spy on the number of troops inside a building, it was said.

According to Ha'aretz, the United States has already developed a similar plane which it may use during a possible war in Iraq.

[DoughtyOne]

I would suspect the see-through tech would be hand held. You'd have to incorporate some electronic manipulation that would prevent miniaturization at this point, IMO.

[RoughDobermann]

This is apparently a micro UAV being developed by DARPA. Looks fake to me though. What's with the canards?

[Thud]

ping

[19th LA Inf]

During WW2 there was a project to harness bats with incendiary devices and drop swarms of them on Japan. The flimsy homes of that day were expected to go up like haystacks. They tried the system out at an airbase in the western U.S. Worked great - - the bats flew up under the eaves of buildings and burned a large part of the base. (Military/urban legend?)

[DoughtyOne]

I doubt it would do any good if he had taken lessons. I still don't think he could reach the pedals. : )

[RoughDobermann]

What do you use for a power supply and motor? I'd love to make one.

The primary focus of Jenn's research is to find an innovative power source for such a small aircraft. "If you use a battery, it's too heavy. Besides, batteries will not provide a lot of power for a long duration of time," he said. "(In our research) we're using an off-board source of energy. An antennae would track the vehicle and provide a microwave beam to provide energy to the vehicle. "One of the biggest advantages of using microwave power is that you can make these UAVs smaller and smaller. With a battery, if you continue making it smaller, you lose power."

[Young Werther]

Micro Air vehicles are already being field tested. The devices fits in a brief case and is flown by a squad member as the unit advances. What's behind that treeline? What's behind that row of buildings. The micro air vehcile is TV guided and the squad has immediate surveillance out to several klicks.

Check it out. Here's DARPAs take!

Itsy Bitsy Air Planes!!

[muleskinner]

Saw one that looked like a dragon-fly on the first LEXX movie. It saved Barry Bostwick from certain death, but he was subdued later.

[avg_freeper]

Towards the end of WWII there was a wacky inventor that came up with the idea of tying small incendiary devices to tiny bats and then releasing them over Japan. The bats were contained in a huge bomb looking device where they would become dormant as the plane climbed to altitude.

Once the plane reached the target, the “bomb” would be released and slowly float down by parachute. Eventually, as the “bomb” decreased in altitude, the bats would warm up and fly out. This was done during the day so the first thing the nocturnal bats did was fly indoors and then go poof and catch things on fire. It was thought that the bats would be very demoralizing as they resembled a tiny fiery daemon in Japanese folklore.

It was actually used but wasn’t found to be very successful.

[DoughtyOne]

Now imagine an M80 or worse that detonates on impact. Shezam!

[yevgenie]

Now if it read Israel making drone (with brain) the size of a credit card, then we'd have a Daschle candidate.

[anobjectivist]

Holy crap, now that one I have not seen.

The ones that I was talking about were carbon fiber/mylar. Not too sure what that one is made of, but its definitely something that I haven't seen. Probably costs a pretty penny for all of the components as well.

[PJ-Comix]

It would be great if they could make a drone the size of a fly. I would love it if this fly/drone would land on the ceiling of a certain home in Chappaqua and record the conversations of the owners.

[JimRed]

Just waiting for the time we put some small spider like robots...

Amazing how the sci-fi stuff from Star Trek eventually comes around. I think they called them "nanites".

[Cate]

I'm not sure if she's telling me the truth or not, but my wife swears she invented something superior to this years ago.
It seems they fly into department stores, make purchases and return home with the merchandise. Perhaps our national intelligence agencies should talk to her. Lord knows I got nowhere when I did. ; )

Now, don't be picking on your wife. She is just being a good American by helping the economy. I keep telling my husband that shopping is very PRO AMERICAN. How else can you explain the upward soaring of Walmart stock? hmmm...

[PJ-Comix]

I would love to send this tiny drone on patrol over Petra Verkaik's bedroom!!!

[DoughtyOne]

See, even serious technical threads can be fun. ;)

[Mannaggia l'America]

Would be cooler if they could strap a teeny-tiny bomb on it

A small blow gun (powered by on-board compressed air or CO2) with a poison dart would make it a great little assisination device...

Hey Saddam! There's a big bumble bee flying around your head! Ooops - that was no bee...

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I would love to send this tiny drone on patrol over Petra Verkaik's bedroom!!!

After some research, I agree with you!

[Starrgaizr]

Visa -- Everywhere You Want to Be