Life for the Taliban in Afghanistan is getting even more dicey
thanks to Switchblades and Black Hornets.
The Switchblade is a tube-launched direct-fire munition that has similarities to a very small drone -- it is officially known as
a Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS). 75 were sent to Afghanistan in late fall 2012 and the US Army has recently recorded it's first successful kills using the system.
Switchblade (manufactured by AeroVironment) is a 24-inch long, 6-lb munition with a small camera -- it can be carried in a backpack -- once launched, the soldier/operator can guide it to it's intended target using a handheld ground control station before crashing it into it's intended target and detonating it's warhead. It can fly for up to 10 minutes -- it is designed specifically to be flown into a bad guy or group of bad guys like a tiny kamikaze -- imagine Achmed's surprise when a tiny flying bomb chases him and then crashes into his chest --- then, ka-boom and Achmed becomes Ach-deadmeat.
Our allies, the Brits (particularly, the Queen's Royal Lancers)
have deployed the Black Hornet -- it is a nano-drone designed for surveillance and recon duties -- it weighs 16 grams and has a tiny steerable camera capable of providing video and still images - it is 4 inches long, 1 inch wide and is launched like a small paper airplane -- it has a range of about 1500 meters and can fly for 30 minutes -- it is often used to look around corners, fly over buildings or walls and then transmit what is on the other side. Good stuff.
Switchblades and Black Hornets
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