New Bird Shaped Drone Shown at Security and Defense Trade Show 124
garymortimer writes "SHEPHERD-MIL, a UAV which looks like a native bird with the same flight performance, will be featured at HOMSEC 2013. This UAV is characterized by the glide-ratio and noiseless motor that make it invisible, silent and unobtrusive in sensitive missions. SHEPHERD-MIL is equipped with cameras and geolocation software. The system is especially suitable for border surveillance missions, firefighting, and anti-drug trafficking operations amongst others."
Re:Silent? Bird-shaped? (Score:1, Informative)
Radar is a problem. But so far, few criminals bring a radar to check if the birds are real. And if they did, you could easily track smugglers by their use of radar anyway.
Shaping it like a bird gets rid of problems with the optical signature. To take this to a logical extreme, start with a stuffed eagle when building your UAV.
The propeller can be hidden from accidental view. Put it on top of the "bird", where body and wings will hide it from the ground. Transparent plastic might make it difficult to see too.
Re:For domestic consumption (Score:2, Informative)
You don't shoot the birds down. You hide from them. Shooting the birds down just tells them where to look to find you.