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Invisible Unmanned Aircraft

MattSparkes writes, "A Minnesota company, VeraTech, has applied for a patent on an unmanned drone that is nearly invisible to the naked eye. The Phantom Sentinel takes advantage of the phenomenon where fast moving objects appear as only a blur, so it fades out of view once it speeds up. This is achieved by rotating the entire craft. The center of gravity is in open air between two of the blade-like wings. There are some videos of a prototype in action on the VeraTech site." The company says you could get usable video of the terrain by processing the images from a spinning camera. One version of the drone is small enough to launch by throwing it like a boomerang. And it folds for travel.

15 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Invisible spinning boomerang planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Catch!'

    'Ouch'

    1. Re:Invisible spinning boomerang planes by russ1337 · · Score: 4, Funny

      have you seen the photo in TFA? ...

      Private Jones: So what's the boomerang doing now? What can you see?

      Private Smith: Its heading straight toward some dumb looking shmuck wearing those gay VR goggles.... hey what the..?!!

    2. Re:Invisible spinning boomerang planes by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 2, Funny

      Allright, who's the wiseguy that gave Nerf a defense contract?

  2. Re:Hmm by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

    No no no, what you're seeing is the craft edited into the video in the first place. You can't see it normally 'cos it's invisible.

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    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  3. Re:Videos? by Ant+P. · · Score: 4, Funny

    At this point in time I'd say it's the videos themselves.

  4. Article Picture by drpimp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is it me, or do the boys in the article in fatigues look like they are like 13? Made for the Army, but cool enough for teens? Hmm, interesting!

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    -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
  5. Re:No it isn't invisible by russ1337 · · Score: 2, Funny

    >> "This thing probably sticks out like dogs balls on radar."

    Excuse my asking, but how well do Dog-balls stand out on Radar?

  6. Re:No it isn't invisible by onkelonkel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Removing the dog balls from the B-2 bomber reduced its radar return by 42%.

    Really.

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    None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
  7. I've got one by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Funny

    Invisible Plane?

    I build one of these things years ago. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it since its first test flight.

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    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  8. Prior Art by El_Smack · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man, will they be pissed when they see this.

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    There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
  9. VeraTech vs Veritech (Robotech) by Zantetsuken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did anybody else think of the similarity between VeraTech and Veritech of the Robotech anime? The article summary even says "...it folds..." - a transformation just like the Veritech Fighter to humanoid form!

  10. Re:Problem/Solution by Plutonite · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm a hippie and I find your comment mildly offensive. If you added long hair to that description I would have you reported to the blog's moderators.

  11. Re:Problem/Solution by RealGrouchy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Meh. Just get them to think that looking for planes is somebody else's problem.

    - RG>

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    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  12. Re:Videos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    1. Requires line-of-sight to control them.
    Wait a minute, the invisible aircraft requires line-of-sight? Am I the only one seeing a problem here?
  13. Re:Invisible by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Funny

    might actually be pretty useful against the Swiss

    Oh I don't think so.

    Chuck one of those at the thing and it's sure to go down.

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    You can't take the sky from me...