Israel just shot down a drone using a Patriot missile. ROI on that "attack" was ~100 to one. At $100 a drone, a solid strategy would be to launch them 24x7 to grief the air defense system.
More on how bots are changing warfare/defense.
>> Riot control drone: the skunk.
"The Skunk is equipped with 4 high-capacity paint ball barrels releasing at up to 20 paint balls per second each, with 80 Pepper balls per second stopping any crowd in its tracks. The current hopper capacity of 4000 balls and with a High Pressure Carbon Fiber Air system it allows for real stopping power. Bright strobe lights, Bright Eye Safe Lasers and with on-board speakers enables communication and warnings to the crowd."
>>Linux Rifle enables 1,000 yard bullseyes for everyone. Good article over at Ars Technica on it.
"Good tag?" he asks, softly.
"Good tag," replies the spotter, watching on the iPad. He leaves the device in my hands and looks through a conventional high-powered spotting scope at the target Steve has selected. The wind stops momentarily. "Send it," he calls out.
Steve pulls the trigger, but nothing immediately happens. On the iPad's screen, his reticle shifts from blue to red and drifts toward the marked target. Even though I'm expecting it, the rifle's report is startling when it fires.
A second later, the spotter calls out, "That's a hit!"
Steve has just delivered a .338 Lapua Magnum round directly onto a target about the size of a big dinner plate at a range of 1,008 yards—that's ten football fields, or a tick over 0.91 kilometers. It's his very first try. He has never fired a rifle before today.
There's a free game (mac, PC, iphone, ipad) to simulate how it works while hunting.
>>DARPA's "smart" bullets -- actually self-guided mini-missiles. More.
"EXACTO uses a finned dart that’s launched with the help of a sabot. The rear of the dart is an optical sensor that receives information from the guidance system. Using that information, the projectile uses the fins to tweak its flight path aerodynamically. DARPA says the projectile can make as many as 30 corrections per second, and that their darts are sub-MOA accurate a mile away."