American soldiers will launch autonomous bombers
The Pentagon has a plan to develop the American army towards intelligent and autonomous technologies that will allow it to gain an advantage over the enemy and, above all, ensure greater security for soldiers.
The latest invention is the Grenade Launched Unmanned Aerial System (GLUAS). Its essence is to launch small observation drones using grenade launchers. This solution is ideally suited to patrol missions and directly during operations on the battlefields. Recently, NASA successfully tested a similar solution.
Soldiers in the moment of danger could shoot several miniature drones into the air, and then the devices in the autonomous mode will patrol a specific area and will transmit live images from cameras to the laptops of soldiers or to the operational center.
The Pentagon revealed that GLUAS drones have a range of up to 2 kilometers, can fly at altitudes of up to 610 meters and for up to 90 minutes, and are also equipped with an observation camera. Flying vehicles are directly fired in special capsules using a 40mm grenade launcher. When the capsule reaches a certain height, the drone opens and flies out.
NASA is interested in a similar solution. The agency wants to use the enormous potential of drones in the possibility of observing vast areas from a bird's-eye perspective. The drones' biggest problem is their safe start. Until now, the moment of releasing the unmanned vehicle was associated with the compulsion to stop the transport vehicle. Now it has become a thing of the past.
Scientists successfully conducted a number of experiments with a special department for launching drones, as well as a modified design of these flying vehicles. NASA drones, when launched, resemble a small torpedo. Once in the air, the vehicles unfold the rotors and begin their autonomous flight.
Interestingly, tests have shown that drones can be fired from cannons even when the car carrying them moves at a speed of 80 km/h. Scientists are happy that soon they will fall into their hands with new, advanced technology, thanks to which they will be able to quickly and professionally carry out important research, consisting of observing the surface of our planet from the air and making the necessary measurements.