In June of 2011, the US military admitted to possessing drone technology so sophisticated that it could be the size of a bug.
In what is referred to as the “microaviary” on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, drones are in development and design to replicate the flight patterns of moths, hawks and other air-borne creatures of the all-natural planet.
Greg Parker, aerospace engineer, explains: “We’re looking at how you hide in plain sight” for the objective of carrying out espionage or kill missions.
Cessna-sized Predator drones, used to carry out unmanned attacks, are known about the planet. The US Pentagon has an estimated 7,000 aerial drones in their arsenal.
In 2011, the Pentagon requested $5 billion for drones from Congress by the year 2030.
Their investigative technology is now moving toward “spy flies” equipped with sensors and mircocameras to detect enemies and nuclear weapons.
Parker is making use of helicopter technology to let his laptop or computer-driven drone “dragonflies” to turn into precise intelligence gathering weapons.
To have a pc do it 100 per cent of the time, and to do it with winds, and to do it when it does not really know where the car is, these are the kinds of technologies that we’re trying to develop.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has unveiled hummingbird drones that can fly at speeds of 11 miles per hour.
DARPA is also inserting computer chips into moth pupae in the hopes of hatching “cyborg moths”.
Within DARPA is the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems project (HIMEM), whose aim is to develop shutterbugs – insects with cameras attached to their really nervous system that can be controlled remotely. Below HIMEM, there are researchers working on cyborg beetles.
Other institutions are hard at work for the US government, developing more insect technologies.
The California Institute of Technology has developed a “mircobat ornithopter” that flies and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.
A team at Harvard University has successfully built a housefly-like robot with synthetic wings that buzz at 120 beats per second.
Back in 2007, at the International Symposium on Flying Insects and Robots, Japanese researchers unveiled a radio-controlled hawk-moth.
Whilst the US military would have the American public believe that these new “fly drones” are used for overseas missions, insect drones have been spotted surveilling streets proper right here in the US.