Next time you spot a bee or dragonfly around you, take a closer look. What might appear to be an annoying insect could turn out to be a miniature (or nano) drone being controlled by someone far away. This isn’t science fiction but science fact – as unmanned aerial vehicle technology advances, drones are getting smaller. Packing a lot of functionality into a tiny form factor, nano drones are becoming a major military tool. Not only do they offer a quantum leap in surveillance capability, but they also hold the possibility of conducting swarm attacks on the enemy.
According to Group Captain Atul Pant, a serving member of the Indian Air Force, in the future, new generation aerial drones will be at the center stage of military operations in warfare, in both lethal and non-lethal roles. In a paper titled ‘Aerial Drones in Future Wars: A Conceptual Perspective’, presented at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, he writes: “Modern disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, miniaturized electronics, composites, etc, are taking the capabilities of unmanned systems to new highs and increasing autonomy in their usage by turning them into smart and intelligent machines. With further advancement of technology, their role in warfare is set to increase exponentially.”
Much of the action is currently happening in the United States which is developing advanced nano drones with unique capabilities. For instance, the Black Hornet from FLIR is designed to be used as part of the US Army’s Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) programme – tools carried by an individual soldier to support small unit-level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. More than 12,000 Black Hornet nano-UAVs have been delivered to defense and security forces worldwide.
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