China has unveiled a new drone, the shape and size of a mosquito, to be used in high-level military operations.
“Here in my hand is a mosquito-like type of robot,” said Liang Hexiang, a student at the National University of Defense Technology, as per a translation from The New York Post. “Miniature bionic robots like this one are especially suited to information reconnaissance and special missions on the battlefield.”
The drone features two small wings, a black body, and three thin legs to mimic the insect.
Sam Bresnick, a research fellow at Georgetown’s Centre for Security and Emerging Technology, told The Telegraph, “If China is able to produce mosquito-sized drones, it would likely be interested in using them for various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, especially in places that larger drones struggle to access, such as indoor areas.” He noted that the drones may be used to “track individuals or listen in on conversations.”
Timothy Heath, a senior defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, confirmed that the technology would likely be limited to special operations due to the need for recharging.
“To spy over a long period of time, someone would need to be willing to constantly cycle out microdrones, recharge them, and redeploy them in addition to sifting through the collected data, all within range of the target person or business,” Heath explained. “This is why the drone is less useful for battlefields but more useful for special mission operations or espionage missions.”
A similar insect-sized technology, called the RoboBee, was developed by Harvard University.
