- The Israeli military is equipping its forces with a new
range of spy drones small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack, the army
said on Thursday.
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- The small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro UAVs
were unveiled at a conference on low intensity conflict.
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- The Israeli air force has often used larger unmanned
spy planes to target Palestinian militants in air strikes.
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- The new baby drones would give army forces in the field
near instant access to aerial intelligence.
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- The planes have already been supplied to some ground
units.
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- "We use them to take aerial photographs of the (Palestinian)
territories," a military official told Associated Press news agency.
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- Through windows
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- On display at the Tel Aviv conference were the Birdy
and the Spy There mini-drones and two micro-drones, the Mosquito and the
Mosquito 1.5.
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- The models were developed by Israel Aircraft Industries'
(IAI) engineering division.
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- Birdy can be carried and launched by a single soldier,
who guides the drone by clicking on coordinates on a laptop computer. It
has a five-kilometre range (three miles), IAI said.
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- The slightly larger Spy There is operated by a two man
crew and has twice the range, IAI said.
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- All the drones can fly for an hour while transmitting
pictures back to their operators.
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- The Mosquito 1 and Mosquito 1.5 micro-drones have a wingspan
of 33 centimetres (13 inches).
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- Their small size allows them to fly through windows and
to provide images to military units behind it, Israeli newspaper Haaretz
reported.
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- The Mosquito has already completed several successful
40-minute trial flights, IAI said.
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- The army currently rents the drones from IAI but has
issued a contact offer to supply them with the small UAVs, the official
told AP news agency.
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- Weight of mini-drones BIRDY - 1.3 kilograms (3 pounds)
Mosquito 1 - 250 grams (9 ounces) Mosquito 1.5 - 500 grams (18 ounces)
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3571261.stm
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