The Air Force has confidently announced that our UAV technology will soon be on a new level. In a nut shell, that dragonfly that you spot hovering around your garden right outside your window could soon be what the Air Force is calling a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV). These MAVs will be designed to mimic and be seen as something that belongs in the environment (i.e. birds and insects), and ultimately ignored. Also in their sights, a single pilot will be capable of simultaneously controlling up to twelve aircraft, a swarm of dragonfly-size MAVs, by 2030. Can you imagine yourself and eleven of your colleagues going into combat with 144 aerial vehicles? With improved munition capabilities AND other ground support from the other military branches, I'd say it could be a little overwhelming for the opposing side.

If this technology falls into the wrongs hands it could lead to some huge controversies and disputes if involved with privacy concerns. How much privacy do we really have now a days though? Phone line tapping, computer hacking, surveillance, and signal interceptance have been issues for the past decade already and the technology to aid them has only improved.

Being a fan of autonomous and UAV technology, I'm eager to see what this new generation of UAVs holds if they're describing current operations as "very Neanderthal."