The Black Hornet looks like a typical tiny toy helicopter weighing only 0.56 ounces (16 grams). A pair of the nano-sized The PD-100 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System was first seen and introduced last week at the Association of the United States Army Expo in Washington, D.C. Any soldier can operate these toy-like devices on the battlefields just like any military radio devices.
According to Ole Aguirre, vice president of sales and marketing for Prox Dynamics AS, this cool unmanned air vehicle is basically designed for quick, tactical "stealth" camera in the sky. The Black Hornet can silently and is invisibly fly at more than 30 feet (10 meters) above enemies therefore, enabling the troops to create better operation tactics.
A complete PD-100 Black Hornet kit comes with 2 Drones, a docking station that would be used for battery recharging, one unit remote control and 7-inch-wide (18 centimeters) screen mobile device to watch the camera feed — all of which is carried in a tough, waterproof case, with a total weight of almost 3 lbs. (1.3 kilograms).
Troops says the drone works great. It follows GPS waypoints to reach an assigned target. Once it reached the target, it sends video and captured still images to its operator. The Black Hornet can fly for 20 to 25 minutes before its batter runs out and needs to be recharged, limiting it to travel up to three-quarters of a mile (1,200 m). The Black Hornet is also too small to carry a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) camera, therefore limiting its capability of night-spying.
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