The craft is only 12 inches tall and weighs in at 13 pounds so I wonder what kind of loiter time could be expected from it. Still, pretty cool. One question about all this cool high tech gear the fighter of the future will will be in charge of, will they be able to use it all? With all this nifty intel gear there may be an issue of info overload or better yet what if conflict of intel. What if an attack is planned using info from a high altitude UAV and then at the last moment new photos from a backpack sized UAV shows something totally different behind the hill? If all the info doesn’t get back to the commanders in time there could be quite a mess…
The objective of the MAV ACTD is to demonstrate a backpackable, affordable, easy-to-operate, and responsive reconnaissance and surveillance system. The system will provide the small unit with militarily useful real-time combat information of difficult to observe and/or distant areas or objects.
The system will also be employable in a variety of warfighting environments (for example: in complex topologies such as mountainous terrain; heavily forested areas; confined spaces; and high concentrations of civilians).