Turns out, biomimicry is a pretty
good way of spying on people.
July 19, 2016
Most of the time when people ask
if it’s a bird, a plane, or Superman, it’s just a plane. Sometimes, though,
it’s a war-zone drone disguising itself with biomimicry.
A drone camouflaged as a large
black bird fell out of the sky in Mogadishu, Somalia on May 1. No one is
completely sure who it belongs to, or how it fell from the sky, but local news
services point to Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency.
The drone’s design is remarkably
lifelike — small propellers push the drone forward while the outer half of the
wings maintain the illusion by flapping. It wouldn’t pass close inspection, but
it’s far more likely to sneak overhead unnoticed than a military grade Reaper or
Predator drone.
It’s not the first, and surely
won’t be the last Mother Nature-inspired spy technology, because nature is the
true OG of camouflage. Biodiversity has long served as inspiration for
subterfuge, from the Greek’s Trojan Horse to this year’s GoatMan. The
Trojan Horse wasn’t meant to be confused with an actual horse of
course, and the only creatures GoatMan was trying to convince were goats, but
it’s the same general concept: if you want success, emulate nature.
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