Buzzing into enemy territory.
China unveiled a mosquito-sized drone designed for covert military operations and espionage — a development that’s raising alarms over the potential consequence of the tech falling into the wrong hands.
The miniature device, featuring two leaf-like wings, a black vertical body, and three hair-thin legs, was engineered to mimic the blood-sucking insect by scientists at the National University of Defense Technology in China’s Hunan province.
“Here in my hand is a mosquito-like type of robot,” said Liang Hexiang, an NUDT student who was holding the tiny drone between his fingers in a video shared by state media last weekend.
“Miniature bionic robots like this one are especially suited to information reconnaissance and special missions on the battlefield.”
He said the hair-raising device is capable of carrying out a wide range of military and civilian missions.
The nano-winged drone is equipped with ultra -miniature cameras and microphones to capture images, sounds, and electronic signals — with its tiny size rendering it nearly invisible to the naked eye and capable of flying past conventional radar system undetected.
Despite the technological leap, experts warned of the serious security risks the drone could pose.
“If China is able to produce mosquito-sized drones, it would likely be interested in using them for various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, especially in places that larger drones struggle to access, such as indoor areas,” Georgetown research fellow Sam Bresnick told The Telegraph.
“These drones could be used to track individuals or listen in on conversations.”
Timothy Heath, a senior defense researcher, cautioned that the micro-drone could be exploited by criminals seeking to steal personal information, including passwords, or infiltrate businesses.
Heath, however, noted that the device’s small size could restrict its operational range and endurance.
“To spy over a long period of time, someone would need to be willing to constantly cycle out microdrones, recharge them, and redeploy them in additional to sifting through the collected data, all within range of the target person or business,” Heath told the outlet.
“This is why the drone is less useful for battlefields but more useful for special mission operations or espionage missions.”
The creepy-crawly new drone emerged just over a month after China released renderings of an aerial mothership designed to launch more than 100 drones and approximately 2,200 pounds of missiles at cruising altitude.
The Jiu Tan SS-UAV has a massive 82-foot wingspan and is designed to fly above many of the medium-range defense systems around the globe.
