America built 'animal UAV', capable of 'stealing electricity'

The era of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to return to the starting point for charging may pass very quickly and never return.

Recently, a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, launched a prototype of an automated flight system, capable of descending to a power line to recharge itself.

This smart UAV system will find refueling sources based on the principle of electromagnetic emissions on the transmission line, from which it can find itself an ideal charging place.

The energy-loading UAV era is about to end?

In fact, the US Air Force is also eager to find a solution similar to the above system. The US Air Force Flight Council has published an animated video on the computer, to give an overview of some of the outstanding capabilities of mini-airplanes to be equipped in the future.

The US Air Force is working on a mini UAV that can fly into the air, become in the air like a honey bee, or crawl underground like a spider, or hover in the air in the form of a dove.

The type of UAV looks like an animal, the insect does not draw attention when parked on the power transmission line, while using the camera to observe the target, then quietly approaches the target that the enemy doesn't have. Any precaution, destroy the opponent with a snake-like killing blow.

This project allows them to shorten the scale of human warfare, radically changing the face of war.

An assortment of mini-drone insects

The US Air Force is also studying a technology to make unmanned aircraft able to 'steal' electricity on transmission lines and on other power sources, helping UAV perform its duties for many days, even only weeks.

A US Air Force official confirmed that they have successfully built a number of mini-remote prototypes. However, due to the large power consumption, the operating time of this mini-flying device is too short, only a few minutes.

According to calculations by US military technology experts, they need to take several years to improve the battery technology, to make this design possible.