Bill Sweetman blogged from the recent AUVSI show about U.S. Navy interest in UAVs that could be air-launched from its P-8 Poseidon to avoid the modified 737 wasting fuel and airframe life by dropping to low altitude to ID surface targets. One of the ideas being looked at is Lite Machines' coaxial-rotor Voyeur, an expendable UAV designed to be launched from standard sonobouy tubes.

Lite Machines plans air-launched flight tests of the 24in-tall Voyeur under the recently started third phase of its U.S. Navy small-business research contract. The battery-powered UAV will be launched from the sonobouy tube to parachute down, deploy from the canister, start up its rotors and descend to ID the target at close range.

It will have an endurance of 60-90 minutes, after which it will ditch in the sea and scuttle itself, says Lite Machines. The UAV will carry a camera that will tilt up 10-15deg and down 90deg, and pan through 360 degrees by rotating the vehicle using differential rotor rpm. 

Lite Machines is also working with the U.S. Air Force on a 10in-long, 15-20min-endurance version of the UAV for post-strike bomb damage assessment, and has produced this video of how the Voyeur could be used to search for IEDs. It reminds me of the drones launched by the killer robot in the movie Red Planet.