drone

Although currently only a design proposal, the prospects of seeing a fly by wire drone seem to be nearing completion. The X-47Bis a sophisticated radio-controlled jet, that can be flying off aircraft carriers as early as next year. Besides calling the beast a "manhunter," the company plans to equip the unmanned plane with air-to-air missiles, laser and microwave firepower (called "directed energy and rechargeable weapons") that can take out enemy missiles.

The report dubs such techniques "ubiquitous observation and recording." The goal: surveillance of tens of thousands of square kilometers for targets as small as a single person.

Such broad surveillance could come from relays of unmanned aerial vehicles, some flying at high altitudes for weeks at a time, underpinned by space-based surveillance systems.