New videos shows off Israeli loitering munitions. Screenshot from YouTube.
The battlefields of the future are already here. Between robot dogs and exoskeletons, technology is rapidly making its way toward the front lines. A new video released by Spear, a company that develops and manufactures unmanned aerial systems, shows off a new weapon: the Ninox 40 Micro Tactical UAS. It’s a hand-held loitering munition — essentially a small kamikaze drone.
Spear claims the Ninox 40 is launchable by ground troops on the move, and it can use artificial intelligence to recognize and track potential targets. The promotional video depicts a soldier pulling the small drone out of his pocket during a gunfight and launching it with greater ease than it takes for him to fire his weapon. Then he commands the drone to fly into an enemy position, where it detonates.
Loitering munitions have been around since the 1980s, but the ease with which soldiers appear to employ and command the Ninox 40 make the technology accessible even to the lowly grunt on the ground.
If you’re interested in what other new tech the Israeli military is exploring, check out Spear’s other UAVs.
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Mac Caltrider is a senior staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine. He served in the US Marine Corps and is a former police officer. Caltrider earned his bachelor’s degree in history and now reads anything he can get his hands on. He is also the creator of Pipes & Pages, a site intended to increase readership among enlisted troops. Caltrider spends most of his time reading, writing, and waging a one-man war against premature hair loss.
