A Helicopter Drone For The U.S. Army

(Credit: U.S. Army)

US Army Unveils 1.8 Gigapixel Camera Helicopter Drone -- BBC

New helicopter-style drones with 1.8 gigapixel colour cameras are being developed by the US Army.

The army said the technology promised "an unprecedented capability to track and monitor activity on the ground".

A statement added that three of the sensor-equipped drones were due to go into service in Afghanistan in either May or June.

Boeing built the first drones, but other firms can bid to manufacture others.

"These aircraft will deploy for up to one full year as a way to harness lessons learned and funnel them into a program of record," said Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Munster, product manager at the US Army's Unmanned Aerial System Modernization unit.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Army`s Newest Helicopter Drone

US deploys 1.8 gigapixel helicopter surveillance drones to Afghanistan -- The Register
Hummingbird robo-drone gets 1.8-gigapixel camera -- CNet
New spy drone has 1.8 gigapixel camera -- Extreme Tech
US Army's A160 Hummingbird drone-copter to don 1.8 gigapixel camera -- Endgadget
Army to deploy vertical take-off UAS -- www.Army.mil

Military's Maple-Seed-Inspired Drone

Sneak Preview: Military's Maple-Seed-Inspired Drone, Plus More to Come at UAV Show Next Week -- Popular Science

After years of development and military funding setbacks, defense contractor Lockheed Martin is finally ready to debut its maple seed-inspired drone. The one-winged, one-foot-long SAMARAI drone just flew a test flight for the Associated Press ahead of its official unveiling at an unmanned vehicle conference next week.



The asymmetric UAV is modeled after maple seeds, called samara, that fly off trees and twirl through the air with the utmost efficiency. Originally, the SAMARAI was envisioned as a seed-sized drone that could deliver a 2-gram payload and send back streaming video, but that has since changed to a much bigger, whining drone.



Read more ....



My Comment: It appears that the future for UAVs is to be miniaturized .... the smaller the better.

Better Eyes For The Next Generation of UAVs

Hyperspectral Sensors: The Flying Eyes That See The Invisible -- Popular Mechanics

Hyperspectral imagers seen in bands of light that humans cannot. They are changing the way satellites scan the world, and now they're about to go aboard unmanned aircraft.

Bees see what we don't. Their eyes are adept at seeing in ultraviolet, so much so that flowers have evolved colorful patterns visible only in UV to attract bees' attention.

The vision of these buzzing insects is just one example of what lies beyond the limits of our naked eyes. In the bands beyond what we can see, there's lots of data that can be used to identify objects. But a new breed of man-made sensors is, like the eye of a bee, plucking information from a wider part of the spectrum than a camera or eye can see.

Read more ....

My Comment: In short .... you can run but you cannot hide .... the reaper uav in the sky will still be able to see you.