5 August, 2024 – On August 5, reports revealed that an elite Chinese special forces unit showcased a new drone designed to mimic a bird during a shooting competition held on August 1. The unit, comparable to the U.S. Navy SEALs, demonstrated the drone as a commando emerged from the water and launched it from his hand.
The drone, which is too small to carry any payload, is intended for covert reconnaissance. Designed to resemble a Eurasian Tree Sparrow, the biomimetic drone is said to evade detection by enemy radar.
In the United States, similar bird drone technology is being explored. The U.S. has developed a “zombie bird drone” for research purposes, which combines synthetic body parts with real pheasant heads and feathers to create robotic birds.
Researchers initially developed the zombie pheasant to observe nature more closely, though it holds potential military applications. This concept echoes a Cold War-era proposal by the CIA, which considered nuclear-powered bird drones for spying on the Soviet Union, but the project was never realized.
In 2021, another Chinese company introduced a robotic fish designed for underwater surveillance.
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Tech Content Writer, Maverick Drones And Technologies Private Limited
