The military’s already got grenades that do plenty more than detonate: They can spray rubber pellets, obliterate underwater opponents and even, uh, be catapulted from the air in a tiny robocopter. But the next generation of grenade? Oh, no biggie, it’ll just navigate through the sky on-command, spy on our enemies… and then blow them all up.
At least, if the Army’s latest bright idea moves forward. In their new round of small business solicitations, top brass are asking for proposals that’d yield what amounts to a very deadly grenade-drone love child. Or, as the Army’s calling it, “A Hovering Tube-Launched Micromunition.”
Already, the Army’s made some impressive advances where grenade munitions are concerned. Just last year, they ordered up hundreds of “Men in Black” grenade launchers, capable of shooting “smart” grenades loaded with sensors and microchips that communicate with a guidance system. And of course, drone development is so hot right now. Used in surveillance for years, the unmanned vehicles are now getting loaded up with missiles — or, as the newly developed Switchblade Drone illustrates, turning into missiles themselves.
The Army’s grenade-of-tomorrow would be capable of being fired off from a launcher before it would “hover/loiter by using propulsion and glide” according to navigational instructions sent by on-the-ground operators. The loitering grenade would be able to maneuver itself for 10 minutes and up to 0.6 miles. Of course, the grenades wouldn’t just mosey around. Each one could “survey enemy targets by using a miniature day/night camera” and offer video feed and GPS coordinates to troops.
It’s easy to see how that kind of intel — taken inside compound walls, on the 12th floor of a building or anywhere else troops can’t readily, safely access — could be incredibly valuable. Not to mention that once soldiers have the info they need, the hovering grenade can make the ultimate sacrifice. The Army wants each one loaded with “a lethal payload” to blow whatever’s spied by the grenade’s cameras to smithereens. Sounds a lot like the Switchblade, which will offer surveillance and lethality in a “backpack sized” device, except presumably even smaller. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before death-from-above shrinks enough to turn the Air Force’s adorable micro-aviary into an extremely deadly one.
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