The Air Force Is Developing Bird-Like Microdrones with Flapping Wings
Military.com | By Oriana Pawlyk
Military microdrones that can flap their wings and change their wingbeat mid-flight could soon be coming to a future battlespace.
Building off a patent signed in 2014 to create maneuverable wings for unmanned aircraft, the U.S. Air Force's elite research lab is working with Airion Health LLC to prototype a mini air vehicle that can imitate either insect or bird flight and has the ability to change velocity without the support of a high-powered computer, according to a service release.
"Controllable forces would be generated by the wings based on position and velocity profiles, resulting in time-varying wing upstrokes and downstrokes, which, at times, may be asymmetrical," the release states.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/06/17/air-force-developing-bird-microdrones-flapping-wings.html
