Personalised robot aircraft for US soldiers

One day soon every US soldier could go into battle equipped with their own robot aircraft. The backpack-sized Micro Air Vehicle, developed by Honeywell for the Pentagon’s DARPA research agency, will begin flight tests this month at the company’s flight base in Albuquerque. The MAV is 30 centimetres tall, weighs just over 5.5 kilograms and can be carried by a single soldier. It takes off vertically and flies like a helicopter, drawing air through an upright fan to provide lift. The unit also carries both ordinary and night-vision cameras for remote reconnaissance.