At the Department of Defense’s “Lab Day” last week at the Pentagon, scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory unveiled the newest iteration to spy drones, small enough to fit in the palm of the hand. US military scientists have invented a miniature drone to glide in the enemy’s airspace and listen in to them. These can be deployed by an airplane or balloon in a large numbers such that it will be impossible for the enemy to pick them all up. It looks like a flying bird from the ground, according to officials. It is cheap, tiny and intelligent glider that can glide to its intended coordinates.
It is being called CICADA: Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft. It is named after the insect that inspired its invention, the Cicada, which spends years underground before appearing in great swarms, reproducing and then dropping to the ground dead. It is so small that eighteen of those can fit inside a six-inch cube. It has no motor and consists of only about 10 parts. The prototype costs about a thousand USD to build, but it can be brought down to $250 on mass production. In a test about three years ago in Yuma, Arizona, Cicada drones were released from 57,600 feet (17,500 meters). The little drone flew about 11 miles(17 KM), landing within 15 feet of its target which proves its accuracy.
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Us starts all the advancement
And that’s how you eat taxpayer’s money. I see drones for a double digit cost. I don’t think the technology in a glider, even with all the spy stuff in it, is so much more expensive.