“The U.S. Army may become the latest service to dabble in micro UAVs, with a plan to invite bids to supply a short-range micro drone as early as 2018, said Col. Courtney Cote, the Army’s project manager for unmanned aircraft systems. Other services are already exploring the possibilities afforded by smaller, lower-cost drones, from autonomous tactical UAVs to swarming drones shot out of a fighter jet’s flare dispensers. The Army itself has long flown variations of the hand-launched Raven, which essentially defined the service’s small-UAV program in its early days, Cote said. More recently, the program has added the longer-range Puma, also by AeroVironment.”
Source: US Army’s Next Drone May Fit in a Soldier’s Pocket – Nextgov.com