US Air Force developing remote-controlled bird-like 'microdrones' with flapping wings

(Daily Star)
Their elite research lab is working with designers from Airion Health LLC to prototype a remote-controlled mini air vehicle that can imitate either insect or bird flight


The microdrone will have the ability to change velocity without the support of a high-powered computer (Image: AFRL)

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The US Air Force says it's developing microdrones that can flap their wings and change wingbeat mid-flight.

The organisation's elite research lab is working with designers from Airion Health LLC to prototype a remote-controlled mini air vehicle that can imitate either insect or bird flight, for surveillance purposes.

The microdrone will have the ability to change velocity without the support of a high-powered computer, according to a service release that states the team are using a 2014 patent for their project.

"Controllable forces would be generated by the wings based on position and velocity profiles, resulting in time-varying wing upstrokes and downstrokes, which, at times, may be asymmetrical," the release states.

A British Army soldier uses a similar drone on Salisbury plain training area in Wiltshire in 2019 (Image: Getty Images)

The microdrone could be used for surveillance in the field or over military bases; or to stake out targets before personnel or other aircraft get to the battlefield, military.com reported.

The release also states that Arion and the Air Force Research Lab will develop a workable "micro air vehicle," or MAV, by early next year.

In January this year the service signed a non-exclusive patent license agreement, or PLA, with Airion for the licensing of the government-owned invention.

A soldier from the Royal Anglian Regiment launches a grenade launcher deployed drone in Salisbury in 2020 (Image: Getty Images)

Joshua Laravie, the Technology Transfer Specialist and Domestic Alliance Program Manager for AFRL's Aerospace Systems Directorate said that the finished drone will take longer than the early 2022 date.