FLYING SAUCERS – yes you read it right – will be sent in to support troops engaged in urban warfare.

The saucers, which are three feet across, use optical and infra-red cameras to seek out enemy positions, and no-one has to sit in the thing and get shot at.

These courageous little chaps will have to peek behind walls and other objects so that they can organise troops and hopefully cut down British casualties – but only of the human variety.

Major Matt Kelly, of the Royal Irish Regiment, told the Times that in future urban warfare, "there will be no alternative for us so we, as soldiers, need to know where the enemy is and why. This is where technology comes in.”

These devices are among the many entrants in a Ministry of Defence competition named “The Grand Challenge” which is aimed at encouraging the development of equipment which could be used in urban warfare.

Andy Wallace the Grand Challenge Project Leader explains that "From a Technology angle, our troops are on operations deployed in very challenging areas so we feel it's important to look at the technology available and see what can be done to help them identify the threats and take appropriate action. The technology today is good enough to be adapted to some kind of platform that can help the troops in this way."

One of the more wacky inventions taking part is the Tumbleweed Robot, which can transform from an unmanned aircraft into a rolling ball, quite why it does this is unclear – but interesting none the less.

Once all entries have been demonstrated, the Ministry of Defence will then decide which inventions are suitable to actually work on the front line. µ

L'INQ
MOD