US military equipped with tiny spy drones

[ArmyVet]

The US Army aims to give almost all of its ground combat units tiny drones which can spy on other forces from the sky.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-military-equipped-with-tiny-spy-drones/

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[wafflejock]

Wow range and flight time are really impressive I wonder how far off reality is from what they advertise there.

 

[ArmyVet]

Wow range and flight time are really impressive I wonder how far off reality is from what they advertise there.

Based on size and weight. I would not think that is out of the realm of possibility??

"6.6-inches across and weigh less than 33 grams range of 1.24 miles at speeds of up to 13.35 mph and are able to fly for up to 25 minutes on a single charge"

But then, I am not an "ingeneere"

 

[wafflejock]

Hmm yah I am a software/web ingeneere but Aerodynamics engineering is a whole 'nother ball game.

I can do some of the basic physics calculations though with some googling... 265 W·h/kg is specific energy density of lithiums (on the good end of lithium cells)

Just did some calculamating and it does actually seem doable, basically need a very small craft that is mostly battery, would be a 1500mAh 1S battery and a 5000kv motor or so but I guess it does sound sort of feasible (only part that seems way off actually is the 6.6 inches across I feel like you would need a bigger prop to get the lift with the numbers I'm guessing at). A 1500mAh battery at 3.7V is basically 5.55Wh though and if the props were 14 inches across instead of 6 inches (maybe that's folded size) then could get the lift needed with that setup based on ecalc.ch for a heli. Take the 5.5Wh and divide by the given good lipo specific energy and get 21 grams so leaves a whole 12 grams for the motor FC, receiver and everything else.... hmm maybe it isn't possible I dunno maybe they plan to power it with a nuclear power source or freakin' laser beams

 

[LoneRCRanger]

So, what they cost? $1.2 million each? USAF used to buy $7,000 Toilet Seats, Army $9,000 Hammers. Sounds reasonable for the military who over pays on everything. Like $50.00 for an MRE.