Air Force scientists are investigating “bio-inspired munitions” that would resemble and behave like swarms of insects and birds with flapping wings and perhaps have the ability to sense wind direction and smell. Such weapons, reports Wired, would be “small, autonomous” machines capable of providing “close-in [surveillance] information, in addition to killing intended targets,” citing a recent presentation by Col. Kirk Kloeppel, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Munitions Directorate at Eglin AFB, Fla. In addition to operating within urban canyons, these munitions would be able to conduct their business within buildings, according to the article. Briefing charts from a presentation that Kloeppel gave at the Air Armament Symposium last October in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. also mention the bio-inspired concepts.
Fresh off its most ambitious test yet of an autonomous cargo plane, the Air Force is preparing to go even bigger by deploying and operating another such aircraft for an entire year.
