British soldiers are testing out tiny 4×1-inch mini surveillance drones throughout Afghanistan. “We used it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset,” said Sgt. Christopher Petherbridge.
The toy-looking Black Hornet Nano can fly for up to 30 minutes with a top speed of 22 mph, or a range of about one half-mile. U.K.-based Marlborough Communications landed a £20M ($31) contract to build a large hive of 160 buzzing helicopters.
The drones were originally developed by Prox Dynamics for search and rescue missions and can be flown automatically using pre-programmed GPS coordinates.
Now, I’m not a fortune teller, but something tells me a version of the Black Hornet Nano is going to be the hottest Christmas toy sometime in the near future.
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
