DoD shows off its first successful micro-drone swarm launch

The US military is no stranger to drone development. Over the past few years we've seen everything from unhackable robot helicopters to harbor-defending pontoon platoons -- including the the means to combat them -- come out of DoD research efforts. On Tuesday, the DoD showed off its latest advancement in drone technology when it released video of the first successful aerial deployment of the Perdix swarm drone. The test itself occurred last October in the skies over China Lake, California when a trio of F/A-18 Super Hornets released 103 individual Perdix drones. First designed in 2013 at the MIT AeroAstro Department, these drones measure less than a foot tip-to-tip and weigh just over a half pound.