A local Japanese newspaper claims that the country's Defense Agency will develop a miniature superlight reconnaissance aircraft, based on ideas from a paper plane.

The tiny unmanned aeroplane, designed to monitor enemy movements in Japanese territories, measures just 60 centimeters (24 inches) in wingspan and has a weight of only 400 grams (14 ounces), the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said.

The Defense Agency will share development, including computer programming, with private-sector firms at the estimated cost of one billion yen (8.68 million dollars), the newspaper said citing sources with the agency.

The agency aims to have the plane out in the field within five years.

"The agency hopes to put the plane into action within five years", Nihon Keizai said.

"We will try to develop the world's smallest patrol plane," an agency official said quoted by the newspaper.

"Modeled on paper planes, the body will be made from polystyrene foam", it said.

A built-in camera will take pictures and transmit them to ground bases, but it will have no offensive capabilities, the newspaper said.

"How far it can travel in one operation has not been determined, but the plane will be equipped with a Global Positioning System receiver, which will aid navigation", the newspaper further revealed.

Previously this year, a Kansas State University team has built a small, inexpensive remote-controlled plane as a sensing tool to collect environmental data.

This plane, with its 80-inch wingspan (2 m) is capable of flying just a few feet above the ground.

Onboard digital cameras, spectral radiometers and other instruments produce high-resolution images and data about small groups of plants and their environmental stress level.

The researchers say the plane meets a need shared by thousands of environmental scientists worldwide.

For just a few thousand dollars, researchers have a way to collect data for small ecosystem sites at low altitudes and very slow speeds.

Until now, climate research has required costly, piloted airplanes and satellites for earth's images and data.