# It's a bird, it's a plane..!



## QC (Sep 21, 2012)

No, it's a missile. Judging by the comments after the article this doesn't have much traction. Dark Star is still my favorite Sci-Fi flick.

Textron Defense Systems has a new flying drone that’s designed to explode on contact with enemy positions.
The compact BattleHawk Squad Level Loitering Munition is armed with a 40mm high-fragmentation charge. It has a video camera built into its nose, so ground troops can remotely pilot it over rooftops or hills to attack hiding enemy forces.
The BattleHawk weighs about five pounds when it’s packed inside its special launching tube. A spring propels the drone into the air and the electric motor starts up the tiny, rear propeller.
“Once it’s launched, it’s armed,” Mick Guthals, director of Business Strategy & Capture at Textron, said while displaying the BattleHawk at the Air Force Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. Sept. 17–19.
Using a small remote control, ground troops can fly the BattleHawk at speeds up to 60 miles per hour for approximately 30 minutes. The BattleHawk is designed to attack dismounted enemy and light-skinned vehicles, Textron officials said.
So far, the BattleHawk has been an in-house project at Textron, but Guthals said U.S. Special Operations Command units have shown interest in the carbon-fiber, flying explosive. Textron hopes to market it to conventional infantry units as well, he said.

http://defensetech.org/2012/09/19/textrons-remote-controlled-flying-bomb/


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## x SF med (Sep 21, 2012)

...........and they got rid of the Dragon?  WOW.  :ehh:


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## RackMaster (Sep 21, 2012)

I want a dozen or so...


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## reed11b (Sep 22, 2012)

RackMaster said:


> I want a dozen or so...


Why?
Reed


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## Ranger Psych (Sep 22, 2012)

*wonders why we don't train grenadiers on high angle fire as per alternative firing methods in the f'ing FM's*


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## Etype (Sep 22, 2012)

These things have been in the works for awhile.  They had some of the initial entries at the SOF EXPO 3-4 years ago.  The big criticism is that all the entries were too big and heavy for the small payload they deliver, and most come in a backpack type system- one backpack=one bomb.  I guess they are trying to address those issues with this thing.

Hopefully they are using the new sub-munition type 40mm HE, not the POS HEDP.


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## RackMaster (Sep 22, 2012)

reed11b said:


> Why?
> Reed


 
Landscaping, pest control, shits and giggles. Good enough? ;)


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## x SF med (Sep 22, 2012)

RackMaster said:


> Landscaping, pest control, shits and giggles. Good enough? ;)


 
Neighbors dogs, too, I suppose...  and out laws...


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## RackMaster (Sep 22, 2012)

x SF med said:


> Neighbors dogs, too, I suppose...  and out laws...



They fall into "pest control".  ;)


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## reed11b (Sep 23, 2012)

RackMaster said:


> Landscaping, pest control, shits and giggles. Good enough? ;)


Yup, I was just hoping that you were not talking about using them down-range. 
Reed


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## Frank S. (Oct 20, 2012)

I like the Battledeer...


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## AWP (Oct 20, 2012)

At the rate things are going in Afghanistan we won't be able to use them to spray crops, much less actually kill people with one.


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## Rampart (Dec 4, 2012)

I would think that Switchblade is a better option.....


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