The Buzz on Insect Drones

A plethora of articles are in the headlines these days on the CIA’s and the Army’s use of drones to strike terrorist targets in Pakistan. The question is, what else are they used for? The answer: for high-tech surveillance. It has already been released to the public that the U.S. has tiny remote-controlled vehicles based on the natural structure of insects. These micro air vehicles (MAVs) are based on the physics of how insects fly. Separately, the US Air Force has revealed it is developing “lethal mini-drones” with a structure based on Leonardo da Vinci’s blueprints for his Ornithopter flying machine. They state these mini-drones will be ready for usage in 2015.

Public concern arose in 2007 when flying objects hovering above anti-war protesters were reported. Although entomologists claimed that they were actually dragonflies, the U.S. government was accused of secretly developing robotic insect spies. The fact that officials denied the accusations did not end the suspicions. Retired US Air Force Colonel Tom Ehrhard, an expert on unmanned aerial craft, was quoted in the London Daily Telegraph saying, “America can be pretty sneaky.”

In 2008, the US Air Force did unveil undetectable insect-sized spies “as tiny as bumblebees” that they said are capable of flying into buildings to photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists. With the U.S. military’s record for keeping its technology action to itself, the question remains as to what the reality is regarding the use of lethal mini-drone