Class III Gyrocopter UAV
My work at DefenseIndustryDaily.com has created a whole category archive of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) stories, covering everything from the US Military's future UAV roadmap to UAV-related wrist gadgets and reports from the field.
Lead Systems Integrators (LSI) Boeing and SAIC recently awarded four contracts for the first phase of UAV development, as part of the $120+ billion U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The contracts range in value from $3 million to $5 million, and the UAVs are slated for fielding in 2014 with the first fully-equipped FCS brigade-sized combat teams.
These contracts and associated competitions cover a wide variety of interesting UAV intiatives at all levels of size and capability, including a few really far-out choices that might be, as the saying goes "coming soon to a theater (of war) near you."
Sort of wish they would cover their soldier costs first before spending money on new equipment:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5258954p-4774126c.html
Cool stuff though.
The US Department of Defense has now implemented a policy that specifies which soldier costs they'll cover, and are beginning to do so. See this DID article for that info.