The system weighs only 32 grams, and can fly at speeds up to 21 kilometers per hour for up to 2 kilometers, he said.
Soldiers are “looking for a covert, safe and immediately available situational awareness tool” that they can carry easily and use at the squad level, Aguirre said. “It’s so small that the enemy probably won’t see it and you’ll see the enemy before they see you,” he added.
Strategypage has more:
This UAV is tiny and very expensive. It’s popularity springs from the fact that the Black Hornet provides stealthy reconnaissance of the enemy in the minutes or seconds you go on the attack. No other UAV has been able to provide that kind of information and for that reason troops (and police) who regularly face dangerous and unpredictable situation see Black Hornet as a long wished for life saver.
So now a squad has its own air corps.
How long before this is semi-disposable and launched from tubes--like smoke grenades--mounted on the outside of armored vehicles, too? The Strategypage post does note that it is very valuable for armored vehicles in forests or urban areas and can be launched from inside the vehicle (I assume from an open hatch).
Seriously, the Air Force needs to move away from the battlefield and just give the Army the mission and resources--from A-10 Warthogs to Black Hornet drones--to operate over the battlefield, and instead become the United States Aerospace Force.
But we won't get what I want--we'll get a Space Force, if Congress goes along.
