美国袖珍型侦察机曝光 全长仅16厘米

The mini spy plane can fly up to 11 miles an hour and took five years to develop at a cost of $4million. Army chiefs hope to use the drone’s tiny camera to spy on enemy positions in war zones without arousing detection and eventually deploy it into both rural and urban environments.

这种迷你侦察机的最高时速可达每小时11英里，研发耗时5年，前后投入更是达到了400万美元。军方寄希望于这种微型探测器可以在战时帮助确定地方的具体所在位置，并且不被发现，最终在城市与乡村地区部署开来。

Experts hope the drone, which can fly just by flapping its wings, compared with current models which rely on propellers, will eventually be able to swoop through open windows and perch on power lines.

专家们希望这种靠着震动双翅便能飞行的“蜂鸟”可以达到轻易传过打开的窗户和停留在电线上的水平。

The demonstration by AeroVironment – one of the world’s biggest drone suppliers – lasted eight minutes and saw the new creation fly through a door into an building and out again, and withstand winds of five miles per hour.

制造商利用八分钟的时间展示了这项产品，“蜂鸟”经过一扇门后进入大厦最终又飞了出来，同时，它足以抵抗每小时5英里的风力。

Todd Hylton, Hummingbird programme manager for the Pentagon’s research arm said it ‘paves the way for a new generation of aircraft with the agility and appearance of small birds.’Matt Keennon, AeroVironment’s manager on the project, said the milestone of building a machine inspired by nature pushes the limits of aerodynamics.

研究人员称这种“蜂鸟”将开启了研发灵活度与体积与小鸟一般的新一代的飞行器的大门，同时也是一项受大自然启发而创的挑战空气动力学的发明的里程碑。

Two years ago the company showed off its first Hummingbird prototype, managing just 20 seconds. The latest flight lasted eight minutes, with engineers expecting longer flights as development continues.

这家公司在两年前所展示的此类模型的飞行之间仅有20秒所有，如今已经达到了8分钟，据称，随着技术的不断提高，飞行时间有望喜剧演唱。