Above is the Dark Sword, the Chinese military's newest drone. Not only does it look a lot cooler than any American model, it's apparently much more maneuverable and highly capable in air-to-air combat. This is on top of the Chinese having carbon copies of the Predator and Global Hawk UAVs ready to go in their arsenal.

Not to mention the names are much more awesome. How cool is the phrase "Dark Sword?" Or better yet, "Sour Dragon?" Seriously. [DefPro via Wired via PopSci]

Apparently the pilots of an unmanned, but armed, MQ-9 Reaper drone lost control of the UAV a few days ago. The resulting manned mission to take it down was mounted almost immediately and ended successfully before the drone reached the edges of Afghanistan's airspace.

I wonder what would've happened if the Reaper hadn't been shot down. It is typically used for "hunter-killer" missions and targets enemies on the ground. Would it continue a mission like that without operator input?

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles like the Reaper are supposed to be programmed to return to their home bases in case they lose contact with their pilots. There's no explanation as to why the fail-safe didn't kick in for this particular Reaper. Nor is this incident the first time that a UAV has been shot down by intentional friendly fire. What's going on and when can I start to panic? [Aviation Weekly via Popular Science]

As part of their work at MIT's Humans and Automation Lab (HAL, heh), the team thought about ways to improve on the suitcase-sized controller that soldiers must currently lug around to control hand-thrown Raven UAVs.

The iPhone app they developed sends GPS coordinates to the craft, which then in turn can send photos and video back to the iPhone.

We had the idea in June," Cummings told Danger Room. "In six weeks, we went from the idea to a real flight test," using MIT's indoor robot range. (See video.) The total cost? $5,000 for a new, commercially available, quad-rotor robot - plus the cost of iPhones for her crew.

[Wired Danger Room] DoD photo by Tech. Sergeant Russell E. Cooley IV, U.S. Air Force.

"I could be crazy, but I think I see a bubble canopy on this aircraft, which would seem to rule out the "UCAV" theory! The plot thickens..."

There's no record of any plane with this shape and a canopy in the US military arsenal. [The Dew Line]

This an artist rendering based on (not so) classified and unpublished photos obtained by UVonline.com reporter Darren Lake. The photo of the unidentified flying object—which apparently is a mystery unmanned aircraft nobody has ever heard off—was taken in Kandahar in 2007, but has been published now by a french magazine. [Air-Cosmos and UVonline via Flight Global]

Update: It's not a Phantom Ray. Look at the drawing. That UCAV prototype has been approved no for ten new flight, but it was in storage before that. This is a new plane.

The drone, which will fly from the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, will begin its patrols in January. Ostensibly, it's on the lookout for terrorists who are trying to sneak into the States, but we all know who the real criminals are: Canadians who are sick of free healthcare and are looking to pay for hospital care in the US. We're on to you, you slimy Canucks! And we won't stand for it! [Breitbart]

There are a few Wings currently manned by Predator UAVs, which can indeed carry Hellfire missiles, but unlike the Reaper, their main mission is reconnaissance. Quite the contrary, the Reaper is the first true hunter-killer UAV, and its 66-foot wingspan and the ability to carry up to 1.5 tons of laser-guided bombs and other ordnances makes the Predator look like a fluttering sparrow.

And over Iraq, the Reaper can do the targeting-pod recon and close-air support that manned jets most commonly find themselves tasked with at a fraction of the cost (Reapers cost $18 million each, compared to three times that much for an F-16). Not to mention without the operational expenses or potential danger to the pilots, who can be in Las Vegas munching Taco Bell with their families. [Strategy Page via /.]

The algorithms the team develops will allow hovering 'bots like STARMAC to navigate, deal with collisions or avoidance and even to work as a team, sharing info on their environment and navigating around each other.

That has all sorts of cool implications for things like future automated search and rescue drones, able to search large areas efficiently and quickly. But it also means spy 'bots. And when you've watched the video, you'll have to agree that the way the things move reminds you of the flying cameras in (insert name of sci-fi movie of your choice). [Danger Room]

It's also a Class 1 Bluetooth device, so you've got a theoretical range of 100 meters. Couple that with the Callpod Dragon and you've got a 100 meter headset setup that connects itself. Give it to your parents so you won't have to teach them over the phone how to connect a Bluetooth headset.

Check out Callpod's first ad spot for their Chargepod below. It's actually pretty neat and shows non-techies why it's useful for them.

It sounds impressive, but with Boeing's ScanEagle having already proven itself, it won't be an easy sell. But if it ever came down to aesthetics, the Killer Bee would win hands down. It looks menacing, like some sort of underwater predator. A decision on the matter should be ready by June or July of this year with a rollout planned for 2001. [Popular Mechanics]

With a beam of just over four feet, the Sentry stands three feet above the waterline, and its remote control uses a PC-based console. On board is a camera for day or night use, microwave data-link communications gear, and a lighting rig that meets international maritime standards, according to Qinetiq.

Suggested missions include harbor patrol, battlefield reconnaissance and damage assessment. Not a swimming pool toy, then. [Crave]

These babies are about two times as fast as their Predator predecessor, thanks mostly to its new and improved 900-hp turbo-prop engine. They are scheduled to be deployed between this fall and early next spring.

As a bonus, here is a video of a similar beast, the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk.

[Slashdot]

The FAA wants to investigate the demonstration the sheriff's dept. conducted last week to make sure everything's on the up and up, hopefully clearing these drones to peep on you and your sexy wife along with "looking for lost hikers and children".

"A private citizen can go to the store and buy one of those model airplanes and fly them around. But because we're doing it as a public service, we have to deal with the FAA?" said Sheriff's Cmdr. Sid Heal.

Yes. – Jason Chen

FAA Grounds L.A. Sheriff's Drone Plans [Chron - Thanks Mathis!]

Army Picks New Killer Drone [Defense Tech]