The Polish military is working on "Bee" drones, which will accompany its "Wolverine" armored personnel carriers.
The drones are being developed by WB Electronics, which manufactures surveillance systems and target acquisition systems for the Polish military. It has teamed up with Optimum to develop a drone that has a camera system and is capable of carrying out an attack on small targets with an explosive charge.
The drones are controlled from a small tablet-like device and have a range of around two kilometers, along with a flight time of around 30 minutes.
"There is no other head this small in the world with two in-built cameras and which is also electromechanically stabilized by a gyroscope in two dimensions. This is an absolutely unique solution," said Wojciech Komorniczak, director for research and new technologies at WB Electronics.
The drones will offer support to infantry in urban settings, and will have an independent communications system.
"This is about a communications system which will operate very well in battle conditions despite dense urban development. Battle conditions are, for instance, when there is no mobile phone connection and the generally available wireless network is gone, so we have to supply such a network by ourselves," continued Komorniczak.
It is expected that the drones will be incorporated into the Polish military in the near future, and will offer a cheaper and more versatile solution to current missile technology. Not only that, but the drones are also easily stored and transported, and will have their own special container designed to be easy to carry.
The company behind the drones has been testing them in various different climates and situations, including the Arctic, desert, jungle and so on. It has also been testing them in high altitudes.
The use of drones has been increasingly popular in the last few years, especially in military applications. There are, however, consumer applications for drones, as well as business applications. For example, Amazon has famously wanted to implement drones into product delivery, offering same day delivery for customers of Amazon's online store.
The use of drones has cause an uproar in the U.S., with many calling for scrutiny over whether drones can freely roam the U.S. airspace or not. The main issue here is privacy, with many concerned that drones will be able to track people and their locations.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration recently proposed regulations on drones and their use, with these regulations putting an end to Amazon's drone delivery system hopes.
