Many a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle designer is trying to figure out ways to build a robotic like bird, which can assist in surveillance and military activities. Sometimes when looking to nature we see things that other species do and try to mimic their behavior as it makes a whole lot of sense and/or it is very efficient. Indeed, some UAV researchers have considered such a scenario like a bird when it hunts for fish. If you watch they often fly circles and glide downwind and turn upwind to conserve energy, in this way it would be like flying the top rim of an hourglass and the top of a lampshade at the same time. One brilliant designer build a loitering missile which had wings on a jet pod above the fuselage and a propeller motor, then the wings would fall off and the weapon would become a smart weapon onto the designated target. Just like a diving bird tucks in its wings in a high-speed dive; Makes sense, good ideas, some of the designs were smart, the idea of loitering in the battlespace is good. Of course for the ROI, you must find a "very good" high-value target otherwise you have wasted an expensive piece of hardware for a two-bit set of murderous criminals worth a grand total of $1.19; which probably would make the thought of a smart bomb seem like an oxymoron. Single mission UAVs are okay I suppose if the price is right and you can do like we did in WWII, out produce your enemy into oblivion. Ronald Reagan was correct in his cold war theory. I propose we speak softly, but make it known, the USA is completely off limits, as this is not Rome and we are a much more technologically advanced civilization and we intend to keep it that way. Smart Weapons would be in fact become an oxy-moron if your weapon costs $350,000 each and you end up blowing up a jeep or truck worth less than $10,000 because there are 1.1 Billion Islamic people and 10% are quite problematic, that number could grow. But then again there are more worms than birds and nature has found a way around that eco-system issue too hasnt she? Well something to think on. |
