The French defense ministry recently unveiled a drone project inspired by bird and insect flight movements.
The BIOFLY project aims to develop a flapping-wing drone that can glide, fly by beating its wings, and hover, a combination of characteristics lacking in fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, the French Ministry of Defense revealed.
Flapping wings coupled with the drone’s small size and light weight (50g) makes it appear from a distance like a bird or an insect.
Based on Previous Project
The BIOFLY is based on a 2014 “electronic bird” project — the Bionic Bird drone — which had “carbon-fiber wings and a body made from polymers.”
The project aim is to improve the Bionic Bird’s “propulsion system, the mechanism of movement of the wings,” and its flight capacities.
Developers are building a new “flapping-wing flight architecture” which will cut out the “oscillations induced by flapping wings” and include a shock-resistance onboard camera
Possible Military Uses
“These improvements include the addition of piloting assistance, the automation of flight sessions such as straight-line flight, the ability to vary the flight speed, with the possibility of quasi-stationary flight, but also an increase in the speed of these drones.”
The drone will have the speed and endurance of fixed-wing drones and the hovering capability of rotating-wing unmanned aerial systems. Its stealth, lightness, and smartphone remote control capability will make it an ideal tool for dismounted soldiers.
The project, funded by the Innovation Agency of Defense, is also supported by the TPE XTIM, the Institute of Movement Sciences of the University of Aix Marseille, and the Lorrain Laboratory for Research in Computer Science and its Applications.
