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Re:It Flies: Da Vinci's Dream Comes True by snippyhollow on Monday July 25, 2011 @02:07PM (#2803775)
Do you think DoD did not think about it previously while they put transmitters on birds? I think it has to do with autonomy, speed (a real bird is more energy efficient, is more powerful and has a longer flight autonomy), and electronic signals betraying you (you have to physically come back with the data, not upload/transmit).
Re:It Flies: Da Vinci's Dream Comes True by run4yourlives on Monday July 25, 2011 @02:36PM (#2803926)
It's one thing to carry out experiments that might one day be used on a battlefield. Such pie in the sky thinking is pretty constant.

It's completely another to adapt a working prototype into a viable device, and as far as I know nothing to date has come as close as that video I just witnessed.

In addition, secure two-way data feeds in real time is pretty much a solved problem, and is currently being used on pretty much every UAV in existence today.