...AND CHEAPER...:

A self-flying Black Hawk helicopter delivered a small robotic amphibious all-terrain vehicle, or AATV, to a Florida drop zone on Tuesday, passing a critical test in autonomous helicopter flight and robot teaming, an Army official said.

The helicopter, flying autonomously -- it also can be piloted remotely -- "came in, picked up [the AATV], flew five to seven kilometers in an air route, delivered it to a ground location and released it. The unmanned ground vehicle moved through a ten-kilometer scenario where it faced different chemical, biological hazards and then fed that data back via satellite," said Paul Rogers, who directs Army's Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC.

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