According to Wired News, the U.S. military is stepping up development of "micro-munitions" -- tiny vehicles that fly through the air and deliver mission-specific payloads. (Trust me, these little robotic insects aren't delivering the mail - their payloads will be much more deadly) Apparently, the Israelis and British already have a few working prototypes:

"Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that. British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The $3,000 WASP is operated with a Gameboy-style controller and is nearly silent, so it can get very close without being detected. A new development will reportedly see the WASP fitted with a C4 explosive warhead for kamikaze attacks on snipers. One newspaper dubbed it "The Talibanator."

The only problem, of course, is if the bad guys wind up with a few of these MAVs: "Big dangers can ensue from terrorists. For instance, using MAVs with small explosive charges to assassinate high-level politicians or to transport biological/chemical agents into protected infrastructure."

Let the arms race begin! Last week, AeroVironment (ticker: AVAV), a maker of these micro-munitions for the U.S. military, raised more than $100 million in its IPO, with Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter.

[image: AeroVironment's WASP]