Bugs,hawks: Next gen of US drones

The bases indoor flight lab is called the microaviary, and for good reason. The drones in development here are designed to replicate the flight mechanics of moths,hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world. Were looking at how you hide in plain sight, said Greg Parker,an aerospace engineer,as he held up a prototype of a mechanical hawk that in the future might carry out espionage or kill.

From blimps to bugs,an explosion in aerial drones is transforming the way US fights wars. Predator drones that have dominated unmanned flight since the September 11,2001,attacks,are by now feared around the world. But far less widely known are the size,variety and audaciousness of a rapidly expanding drone universe.

Within the next decade the Air Force anticipates a decrease in manned aircraft but expects its number of aerial drones like the Reaper to nearly quadruple. Already the Air Force is training more remote pilots,350 this year,than fighter and bomber pilots combined.

The Pentagon has asked Congress for nearly $5 billion for drones next year,and by 2030 envisions ever more stuff of science fiction: spy flies equipped with sensors and microcameras to detect enemies or victims in rubble.

Large or small,military ethicists concede that drones can turn war into a video game,inflict civilian casualties with no Americans at risk.

A tiny helicopter is buzzing as it prepares to lift off in the Wright-Patterson aviary,a room lined with 60 motion-capture cameras to track the little drones every move. Soon it is up in the air. What its doing out is nothing special, said Dr Parker. The researchers are using the helicopter to test technology that would make it possible for a computer to fly,say,a drone that looks like a dragonfly. The push right now is developing flapping wing technology,or recreating the physics of natural flight.