It would appear that these smaller drones aren’t typically armed. It shows that the US military is experimenting with using drones to find specific targets.

The Air Force’s provider is a Seattle-based firm, RealNetworks, which sells a platform dubbed Secure Accurate Facial Recognition, or SAFR.

The Air Force paid $729,056 for SAFR, which will be deployed “on an autonomous sUAS for special ops, ISR, and other expeditionary use-cases,” according to the contract.

Special operations units are known for their covert and lethal activities, such as assassinations and raids. Deploying an AI-powered airborne robot with face recording tech means that it could be used to carry out illegal extra-judicial murders on foreign soil.

Motherboard pointed out that such drones could be used for “intelligence and target acquisition,” so if you notice you are being trailed by one, it is probably a good time to make out your last will and testament, but it is unlikley to do the wet work itself.

What appears to have happened is that the Navy has become more interested in drone swarm warfare techniques in the Russo-Ukrainian war. The right-wing press seems to be converting this story into one of flying death robots which the government will use to take away the guns of US citizens while it forces everyone to dress in drag.