The buzzing you hear nearby may not be a bug, but rather a tiny drone operated by Army Special Forces.
Soldiers are testing the 18-gram PD-100 Black Hornet, made by Norway’s Prox Dynamics, according to Arne Skjaerpe, CEO and president of Proxdynamics USA
The PD-100 has been used operationally for three years, including by the British Brigade Reconnaissance Force in Afghanistan to “check out enemy compounds,” Skjaerpe told Defense One.
The drones launch from a utility belt that is strapped to a small box. The data is stored on the belt, with video streamed to a chest-mounted screen. The operator controls it with a joystick — forward, backward, up and down — or can set it to autopilot.
Each drone system costs roughly $40,000.
Skjaerpe said the Black Hornet is the smallest flying robot ever used in a combat setting.
