Marine Corps Set to Deploy Next-Generation Unmanned Aircraft

As far as nano-UAVs, there are a growing number of products in the marketplace for the Marine Corps to choose from, said Phil Finnegan, an analyst with the Teal Group.

A Norwegian company, ProxDynamics, is offering a palm-sized miniature helicopter, the PD-100 T Black Hornet, which can fly with an electro-optical camera and thermal sensor provided by FLIR Systems Inc. for night operations. U.K. forces, and possibly U.S. Special Operations Command, have purchased some of the mini-copters, Finnegan said.

Nano-UAVs "definitely [are] a rapidly growing market. That being said, the [contract] value is nowhere near those of the larger systems," he added.