Tiny scout drones could soon be seen zipping around a city to find the enemy target. The U.S. Army is now looking at developing a tiny hovering robot that can scout through an entire city to identify the right target and then exploding itself to effectively take out the target.

The "hovering tube-launched micromunition" isn't an independent robot but will need to be deployed through a standard US military weapon like a grenade launcher. It might even end up launching from a missile or aircraft if the situation demands it. The micromunition drone as it name suggests will have to be smaller than a backpack and should be able to travel at least 0.6 miles or 1 kilometer for its scouting missions. The Army also wants the drone to be able to hover for 10 minutes as it looks for hidden enemies.

Meanwhile DARPA, the U.S. military's research arm is moving forward with developing a flying humvee that can "combine the advantages of ground vehicles and helicopters into a single vehicle, maximizing flexibility of movement". Aerospace companies Lockheed Martina and AAI Corporation have already presented their designs and have advanced to the next stage which is to begin building prototypes of the flying humvee. The prototypes are expected for presentation to DARPA at the end of 2012. Once DARPA selects one of the designs, ground and flight demonstrations could occur as soon as 2015.

If flying humvees doesn't impress the military they could always look into invisible tanks. Global defense company BAE Systems has created a way to make an entire tank disappear from infrared cameras. The company uses a system called ADAPTIV that covers the tank with hexagonal plates that can change temperatures on demand. The tank can then disappear from enemy thermal-energy displays. Each pixel can be activated in a specific pattern to completely alter the tank's appearance. In essence the tank can meld into the surroundings like a chameleon. Enemy assailants won't know what hit them.