US Army unveils "Switchblade' - new tiny kamikaze drones

[sixmile]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050536/US-Army-unveils-latest-weapon-kill-militants--tiny-kamikaze-drones.html

'It quietly hovers before dive-bombing and blowing up a human target.


This ‘kamikaze’ drone - small enough to fit inside a soldier’s backpack and dubbed the ‘Switchblade’ - will soon be available for use by the U.S. Army.
The impressive robotic craft weighs less than 2kg and launches from a tube before its wings fold out as it flies into the air, reported AFP.'



snip

'Bill Nichols, of the CCWS project office, praised the Switchblade as 'an ideal weapon for today's fight (and) the future' with 'unique capabilities'. The Daily described it as 'a smart, remote-control grenade with wings'.

more at link

[Gamow]

1. Um, that is not a drone, its a missile. nt

[Robb]

2. ...

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0713/military-defense-surveillance-drone-target-terrorists_2.html

[Bosonic]

3. Knife Missile V0.00000000000000001

[phantom power]

5. lol

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RC]

6. Think of what the world would be like if we paid that much time, attention and money

working on peace instead of killing and wars.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. I was just going to post that we need better methods of feeding and healing people, not killing them

:hi:

[Blue_Tires]

9. Sadly, there has always been more profit in war, strife and misery

But yeah, these wizards of war tech could probably solve most of the world's problems (peacefully) if the price was right

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Making killing even more fun. The "Toys 'R Us" method of murder.

[glinda]

12. LOL

:rofl:

[Poll_Blind]

10. Can't wait till my local police force buys the so-called Less Than Lethal™ version.

I'm going to be super-stoked to have my tax dollars paying for those. Can't wait to experience all the unbridled excitement of a mis-targeted Hellfire missile in Afghanistan- right in my own back yard!

PB

[pscot]

13. Homeland security is developing the grant process

even as we speak. They can't wait to get these things into Joe Arpaio's hands.

[Xithras]

11. I wonder how they communicate with it.

People have been talking about RC bombs for decades, but the idea has usually been shot down because of a security flaw. Direct radio communications are detectable and jammable. Once the control frequencies are identified, it's fairly trivial to build a detector that passively scans for these frequencies and then activates a powerful short term jammer to interrupt communications with the transmitter. You could put something like this in a package the size of a childs shoebox.

Our big drones get around this by bouncing their control signals directly off orbiting satellites, but there's no way a minidrone that small has satellite transmitters onboard.

[jmowreader]

18. Yes there is...

This is an Iridium phone, and it'll fit in your pocket Iridium is a "cell phone" network using satellites rather than towers.

One of these will fit in a manportable cruise missile easily.

[Xithras]

22. I've used Iridium phones before.

Their data rate is only a few kb per second, which isn't anywhere close to high enough to transmit both navigational data and target acquisition video. The data rate needed for streaming video requires a reasonably powerful transmitter, and I'm not aware of any that are small enough to fit in a drone that size.

Besides, if you look at the image, you can see the portable antenna behind the soldier. That suggests direct radio control.

[localroger]

26. Probably spread-spectrum

By constantly changing the carrier frequency and employing error correction, the signal drowns in the background noise and is impossible to fully jam unless you know the algorithm and sync point for the frequency shifts. You might lose an occasional packet due to interference but that's what the error correction is for.

[white_wolf]

14. What a waste of money.

if we spent as much on social services as we do on war, then we wouldn't be slowly but surely approaching third world status.

[sarcasmo]

15. Military budget is never on the table, but social services always get cut.

What we live in is an Empire not a country.

[Bigmack]

16. "Defense" spending is always an additive function....

... We add nifty new erection-inspiring weapons, but we never really retire any of the old ones. Carriers.... nuclear missile subs... We like 'em big, expensive, and without a mission.

[Abin Sur]

17. It's so cute!

[Hubert Flottz]

19. By Whammo?

Be the first kid on your block!

[msongs]

20. dang lots more chances for Obama and his crowd to bomb people. cool. nt

[apocalypsehow]

21. Though a neat looking toy - a deadly one - it's time to fold up the Cold War tent and slash Defense

spending to at least a quarter of what it currently is, if not more. I simply don't understand why the Defense budget is so sacrosanct among even some Democrats, when there are so many other things that need funding. Things that don't involve dreaming up new ways to kill people.

[whatchamacallit]

23. Yay!

More killer toys for Murderland to play with!

[Octafish]

24. Just in time for the holidays.

Who wouldn't want one?



...and if you're giving this year...

It's perfect for the despot who has everything!

[JVS]

25. I'd advise any radio controlled aircraft hobbyists to buy now before the the planes are forbidden

[Abin Sur]

27. High power model rockety has been much more carefully monitered since 9/11.

[bluestate10]

28. Just the beginning.

Soon, US soldiers will have drones attacked to units that search out enemies that are within reach of harming soldiers. The mini-Drone in the photo will soon be armed and capable of killing many adversaries before returning to it's unit of soldiers to re-arm.