INTELLIGENCE
Air Force making bugs that fly, spy
Wright-Patterson involved in development of tiny intelligence-gatherers.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Imagine an unmanned aerial vehicle the size of a bird or even an insect, equipped with flapping wings so it could fly between buildings and even into rooms to gather intelligence about the United States' enemies.
Air Force Research Laboratory scientists have created a micro air vehicle team with goals of demonstrating the concept of a bird-sized UAV by 2015 and a bug-sized one by 2020. The vehicles may not be ready for deployment by then, but they would be intended to support the Air Force's goals of being able to locate, target, assess and engage any potential enemy anytime and anywhere — even inside a room, said Doug Blake, deputy director of the laboratory's air vehicles directorate.
"You can envision scenarios where a thing I want to find would be in a place where a big air vehicle would not be able to find it," Blake said in an interview Monday, Oct. 27. "Something that crawls around like a bug and flies around like a bird might be able to get into that room to see."
Researchers working with the AFRL's air vehicles directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base have an indoor test flight facility operating to support the development effort, Blake said. They hope to have additional facilities operating by the end of 2009.
Equipping the tiny UAVs with wings would give them more stability to fly through cross winds they could encounter when flying between buildings in a city, said Joe Sciabica , the AFRL's executive director.
"We're looking for agility that mimics nature," Blake said. "A little, radio-controlled airplane might get slammed into a wall."
He said the researchers want to build on work already done in this area, as the American military seeks to develop and deploy additional unmanned aerial vehicles to watch and attack enemy forces. Researchers from the Air Force, sister services and industry will be invited to use the Wright-Patterson facilities to help advance the work.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
