Norwegian firm signs US nano-helicopter deal
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 28 Oct, 2013 CET.
Updated: Mon 28 Oct 2013 18:16 CET
A Norwegian company has been awarded a contract to develop its revolutionary pocket-sized micro-drone for the US military, a US defence industry magazine has reported.
Prox Dynamics of Nesbru near Oslo have developed a tiny helicopter, weighing less than half a kilogram, which can be carried by infantry soldiers, and then launched into the air to survey the surrounding terrain. According to Military and Aerospace Electronics, the company has received $2.5m from the US Army's Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF), a unit tasked with developing ideas from small business. The new system will be named the Black Horney Personal Reconnaissance System, and will build the company's PD-100 nanocopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and base station. The system fits inside a pocket, and weighs less than a kilogram. It can be airborne within one minute, is small and silent and requires little training. The drone carries cameras and shoots high-quality video and can also carry a lightweight thermal imager to operate at night and see enemy soldiers from behind obstacles. The drone flies slowly, about half a kilometre an hour, but can stay in the air for as long as 25 minutes.
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Prox Dynamics of Nesbru near Oslo have developed a tiny helicopter, weighing less than half a kilogram, which can be carried by infantry soldiers, and then launched into the air to survey the surrounding terrain.
According to Military and Aerospace Electronics, the company has received $2.5m from the US Army's Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF), a unit tasked with developing ideas from small business.
The new system will be named the Black Horney Personal Reconnaissance System, and will build the company's PD-100 nanocopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and base station.
The system fits inside a pocket, and weighs less than a kilogram. It can be airborne within one minute, is small and silent and requires little training.
The drone carries cameras and shoots high-quality video and can also carry a lightweight thermal imager to operate at night and see enemy soldiers from behind obstacles.
The drone flies slowly, about half a kilometre an hour, but can stay in the air for as long as 25 minutes.
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