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Handheld Black Hornet Nano Drones Issued To UK Soldiers
cylonlover writes "Drones have become a valuable asset for any military force in recent years for both combat and surveillance. But while scanning a warzone from miles away is great from a tactical standpoint, unmanned aircraft can be just as useful in the hands of troops on the ground. That's why British soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued several Black Hornet Nanos, a palm-sized UAV that can scout around corners and obstacles for hidden dangers. Each UAV measures just 4 x 1 inches (10 x 2.5cm) and weighs a mere 0.6 ounces (16 grams), making it easy for troops to carry along with the rest of their gear. A built-in camera transmits live video and still images to a handheld control unit at a range of up to half a mile (800 meters)."
Relative to the cost of a soldier this seems reasonable, assuming British soldiers have a similar cost.
This just in: short production runs of 160 pieces have an expensive per-piece cost.
Tooling and R&D aren't free, buddy.
--
BMO
Read the article: One of the main selling points of this tiny little helicopter is the fact that it is actually very stable even in high winds.
Remember that it was developed here in Norway where we have quite a bit of "inclement weather", i.e. it has to be able to handle both wind, dust and some rain.
Re. the excessive cost: This will obviously come down a lot, and even if the main article didn't say so, each kit contains multiple drones: The mil-spec controller is probably far more expensive to manufacture than each drone.
Terje
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
First of all, its 125000 GBP, not USD, second, that's the cost for 10 years of maintenance.
Meaning, that for 10 years, they'll repair and replace those drones, which will undoubtedly get damaged pretty frequently in a combat situation.
One thing is for certain, soldiers will have plans formed in much less than the first hour after the drones are issued to them..."We need drone style, real-time visual recon of the nearest women's shower. ASAP!"
Troops will be troops, it has been so for thousands of years: Live to get laid, have the next drink, and collecting some coin.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
The actual price of these things should fall dramatically over the next year or so as they get rolled out.
You don't know much about military contracting, do you?
No sig today...
I fly a walkera genius (it's a tiny bit bigger http://www.helipal.com/walkera-hm-genius-cp-v2-helicopter-2-4ghz-value-edition.html ) and it handles the wind exceptionally. Wind i couldn't fly an rc plane in, the little chopper barely gets disturbed. I think it's due to being such a small surface area, plus those little motors have surprising amount of power. If any one wants to try this at home you can also buy 1 gram camera and transmitter modules http://www.fpvhobby.com/143-sub-nano-combo-set.html ; it'll only run for 8 minutes or so (not like the 30 this uk military one does) but the genius is fast and it's full 3d cyclic pitch (fly it upside down if you can handle it).
Rocket Surgeon.
What, you mean one of the polystyrene upy-downy lefty-righty helicopters that are barely controllable indoors and where the blades fall off if you land slightly badly. I had one of those, it was a bit of a laugh but it was lacking the following features:
1) A copter which uses a secure (DDL) network, capable of transmitting over 800 meters
2) GPS navigation
3) High quality, stabilized, pan-tilt, and mechanically zoomed video
4) 30 minutes battery
5) Carbon-fiber propellers
6) Super-quiet operation
7) Waterproof
8) Hover and stare, preprogrammed search routes
9) Base Station
Mission Planning, Execution and Analyses
Display connections, Functions and System Controls
Storage of Mission Data including Video and Images
Connections to PC, Network and other Peripherals
UAVs housed inside for Protection and Support
List stolen from Phyvel Lavine's comment under TFA
Take a look at the Walkera Ladybird (~£100) or Hubsan X4 (~£50). These little quadcopters are surprisingly good for toys. Things have moved on from those crap polystyrene 2-channel IR-controlled helis
:)
Add a cheap camera system, and you could still have hundreds of them for the price of one mil-spec system. Although the military version does look very impressive, it's probably overkill for looking around corners/over obstacles
How much C4 do you need one of these things to carry before it becomes a nice way to take out the target after it finds one?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Well spoken and good call! You've nailed it.
'Those with Asperger' is just one of the emerging epithets used in discussion forums as chuckle zingers. The object of the game is to be the first in your group to come up with a zinger that is worded such that the author is winking and laughing with some (presumed, unseen) audience of like minded individuals.
It is a social gambit to build such a clique. Some readers are surprised by the novelty and cleverness of the remark -- and there is an inherent vulnerability in the human specie where our respect for the clever comic transcends subject matter and deep implications. They take it as their own and drop it elsewhere (always fast, always first) and it becomes a contagion of memery.
A chuckle zinger may result in a brief spell of uncomfortable laughter among the astonished, conspiratorial laughter among a growing clique. This is why blatantly racial and sexist jokes continue to have such persistence of memory. Not because racism and sexism is prevalent... they have astonished the most and therefore are most often regurgitated by those who prefer a bad joke to a period of quality silence.
There are exceptions however. A goatse link is always appropriate anywhere. It is a jesting reminder of our childlike preoccupation with astonishment that may be contemplated in thoughtful silence. Goatse does not present itself with word-jargon that attempts to inject it into social context. It just presents itself. Period.
With my pedantic and droll style of writing I am immune to such things as zingers.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Show me a 16g heli with 30 minute flight time, stable in high winds, camera that _transmits_ live video (think battery life again), and can follow GPS coordinates (think yet more battery life).
;) ).
Provide a link to one that's less than $1000. Otherwise you can figure out where all the millions went.
I've seen interesting civilian/toy helis: e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3WBUVYZkODI
But none have specs anything as impressive as _claimed_ in the article. It does make me wonder whether the claims are all true. If it's true it's pretty impressive tech. In fact it actually is not far from some of those Sci-Fi stuff.
I've got toy helis, and without all those specs, they are toys.
8 minute flight time
requires pilot intervention in high winds.
no GPS
adding live hi-res video = even shorter flight time.
Not water proof (my guess is the drone is waterproof or it'll be a major oops
What does it weigh in hand grenades?
And just like that, I have a new favorite system of measurement.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Think of any new smartphone, but without all the plastics around it and that huge screen.