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.