• Régulièrement, the Economist fait la promotion enthousiaste des derniers jouets meurtriers livrés par le complexe militaro-industriel. Aujourd’hui : le mini-drone qu’il est top-mignon.

    Technology monitor : Joining the drones club | The Economist
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/08/technology-monitor?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/joiningthedronesclub

    Future Ravens may be able to strike as well as scout. The American army has experimented with turning the drones into miniature bombers, capable of delivering grenade-sized weapons. Such bombs would be enough to destroy a small vehicle or take out the occupants of a particular room with high precision and little collateral damage.

    For greater punch, AeroVironment has a prototype version of a lethal drone called Switchblade. This resembles Raven, but is a flying bomb, packed with explosives. Its guidance software enables it to lock on to and follow a rapidly moving target, even if that target is trying to evade its attention. A mixture of Ravens and Switchblades could thus make an effective hunter-killer team.

    As electronics get ever smaller, small drones get more capable. At the moment, Ravens cost around $56,000 each, and economies of scale should bring this down. By contrast, machines like the Predator cost at least $5m, and another $5,000 an hour to fly. That is how the Pentagon can afford to buy so many Ravens, compared with just a few dozen Predators and Reapers each year. From the army’s point of view, small is definitely beautiful.