14 DAY TRIAL // A new stealth camera is buzzing over modern battlefields. Unveiled last week at the Association of the United States Army Expo, in Washington, DC, a small personal drone is now the talk of the town.
Weighing just 16 grams (about 2.1 ounces), the robotic vehicle looks like a toy helicopter, but one that can relay critical battlefield information to commanders in real-time.
Dubbed the PD-100 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System, or simply Black Hornet, the aerial vehicle can be operated by a single soldier with the same ease he would a conventional radio.
The target “market” for the reconnaissance drone are small tactical units, whose commanders require to-the-minute battlefield intelligence and technical support. The instrument is one of the most advanced pieces of military hardware on the market today, LiveScience reports.
Since being deployed in the field in Afghanistan last year, British soldiers have used the Black Hornet for a variety of applications, ranging from scouting target compounds to checking the roads ahead for potential ambushes or other threats.
The main advantage of this reconnaissance system is that it flies silently. Soldiers in the field say that the drone is simply invisible at an altitude of 10 meters (30 feet), and cannot be spotted by enemies or even advanced radars.
Given its size, the drone has only limited battery life. It has a range of up to 1,200 meters (three quarters of a mile) on a single charge, meaning it can fly for 20 to 25 minutes before it needs a recharge. One limitation of the Black Hornet is that it cannot fly at night, since it lacks a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) camera.
The lightest MWIR on the market is twice as heavy as the tactical drone. Black Hornet is manufactured by Norwegian company Prox Dynamics AS. The instrument is “very easy to operate and offers amazing capability to the guys on the ground,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Each Black Hornet kit comes with two drones, a remote control, a mobile device to watch the camera feed on, and a docking station for recharging the vehicles. Together with the waterproof case the system is encased in, the PD-100 kit weighs just 1.3 kilograms (some 3 pounds).
The United States Army has already expressed interest in the drones, purchasing two for testing purposes. Officials with the military declined to provide additional details of any program to buy the drones in mass.