Boffins create drone that flies exactly like bird to blend in on spying missions

THIS drone flies exactly like a bird so it blends in on spying missions.

The wing-flapping robot mimics the natural flight of its feathered counterparts.

2

2

Silent Flyer UAV went on display during the DroneX expo at East London’s ExCel centre.

It is designed by Icelandic company Flygildi, which said it could be for military or private use.

Earlier this year we revealed creepily realistic drones made from dead birds were being developed by scientists.

With their flapping wings, they look uncannily like the real thing and they could help us understand bird behaviour or have a military use.

Using taxidermy birds as aircraft is a great tool to study flight, according to researcher Dr Mostafa Hassanlian.

He said: “We came up with this idea that we can use .dead birds and make them into a drone. Everything is there – we do reverse engineering.”

The current taxidermy bird drone can fly for upwards of 20 minutes, but scientists hope to make it fly longer and even test it among living birds.

The team, based at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, is being done in hopes to gain more understanding about birds.