Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No - it’s a Drone

The Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV, published video footage in March of a new type of drone or, as they called it, the Little Falcon ornithopter. It flies by flapping its wings, which the media channel said was “the most agile and lifelike” bird-like drone anywhere in the world.

China’s Global Times said: “Such aircraft are suitable for reconnaissance, surveillance and even precision strike missions in special operations.”

On Aug 1-2, the Chinese milblogger David Wang published video on X/Twitter which he said showed members of the Jiaolong (Sea Dragon) Commandos – a Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) special operations unit akin to the US Navy Seals or the UK’s Special Boat Service (SBS) – using the devices on military training exercises.

One clip shows a swimmer from the unit surfacing from a lake and launching a small so-called biomimetic drone.

Another video shows a group of commandos emerging from a wooded area and setting off on motorized skateboards as one releases a larger version of the drone that flies above and films the squad as they move along a road.

In the era of miniaturized electronics, infra-red video cameras and radio-linked nano drones, such as the Norwegian pocket-sized Black Hornet, have already shown their effectiveness for localized surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. One that looks like a bird is likely to be difficult to spot and classify as a threat.

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Although these Chinese devices are some of the first to become operational, the idea is not new. The CIA worked on drones disguised as birds for long-range surveillance during the 1960s as part of its Project Aquiline.  Whilst the work was cancelled because the technology of the time didn’t allow the drones to be small enough or convincing as birds, its efforts were not in vain. In fact, it led to technology that was later used in the development of its current UAVs.

In a 2020 study in Science Robotics – a journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science – Chinese developers said they were working on a flapping X-wing ornithopter, weighing just 26 grams to be used for “micro aerial vehicle missions.”

Scientists at New Mexico Tech have been working on a project that converts stuffed real birds into flapping-wing drones to covertly monitor wildlife. In a paper published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum, the institution detailed how it has been working to make the wings more flexible and realistic (also helping to reduce mechanical noise) and even add legs to allow the “birds” to perch, thus saving battery life.

In 2023, the EU-funded GRIFFIN project demonstrated a robotic bird that could land on tree branches using talons. The device could be used as a “substitute for rotorcraft,” its creators said.