The smallest of the unmanneds utilized by the Polish Army is the micro-class air drone – Black Hornet 3 belonging to the Black Hornet Nano family. Miniature sizes and silent flight make the “black hornet” the perfect equipment for reconnaissance missions in built and indoor areas.
Black Hornet 3 is simply a heavier, more ranged variant of the PD-100 Black Hornet drone, which was developed by the Norwegian company Prox Dynamics AS on behalf of Marlborough Communications Ltd., a British institution supplying armed forces and police with state-of-the-art intelligence, communications and robotic technologies. For 160 sets of unmanned British paid £20 million. Serial production began in 2012.
The unmanned rotors are located in the hand, have an electrical drive and various camera sets, depending on the version, in the case of Black Hornet 3 are interchangeable optoelectronic and thermal cameras. The first 1 allows transmission of an image with a resolution of 640 × 480 pixels and shooting with a resolution of 1600 × 1200 pixels. The second provides video images and images with a resolution of 160 × 120 pixels. The operator has contact with the drone via digital data link and GPS. It can control or set navigation points so that the device can fly itself. Miniature sizes and silent flight make the “black hornet” perfect equipment for, among others, reconnaissance missions in urban areas and interiors of buildings.
They were the first to usage Black Hornet British soldiers on a mission in Afghanistan. The miniature drones were equipped with reconnaissance brigades that operated against the Taliban in Helmand state in the south of the country. In 2019 Poland bought 40 Black Hornet 3 sets for the Commandos Military Unit of Lublin. The strategy is besides utilized by armed forces including Australia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, fresh Zealand, the United States and Turkey.
