Israeli defense contractor Rafael Armament Development Authority calls its Firefly wireless camera, which can be shot 500 feet in the air by a grenade launcher, a revolutionary concept in tactical intelligence:
The Firefly can make the difference between life or death on the battlefield. Soldiers shoot it off and for eight glorious seconds it gives them a bird’s eye view of the terrain around them, tipping them off to enemy positions. Then it crashes back to earth.
I’m thinking that a remote-control helicopter or airship, with far more than eight seconds’ air time, would make a much better vehicle for the camera, but a few hackers decided that the real problem is that private citizens can’t buy 40mm grenade launchers — so they decided to build their own version that launches from a perfectly legal 37mm flare gun.