The U.S. Army is developing a helicopter drone equipped with a 1.8 gigapixel camera that can provide high resolution ground images or video from an altitude of 20,000 feet and over an area of 65 square miles.

The drone is called A160 Hummingbird and its powerful video sensor technology developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is called the ARGUS-IS, the acronym for Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-Imaging System. The name was inspired by the Greek mythology monster Argus, which has 100 eyes.

The 1.8 gigapixel corresponds to 900 times the resolution of 2 megapixel camera on mobile phones. The camera can follow separate targets even if these are all moving at the same time on the ground or monitor several sites simultaneously, something the existing Predator drone cannot do, according to program manager Brian Leninge.

The A160 Hummingbird can also deploy without the need for a runway and it can hover, unlike the plane-type drones.
Boeing built the first A160 Hummingbirds that will be deployed by May or June next year after their trial at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, said Lt. Col. Matthew Munster, product manager for the US Army's Unmanned Aerial System Modernization unit, according to Cnet.com. The U.S. Army will bid out contracts to build more such drones.

The DARPA, in collaboration with the UK-based defence contractor BAE Systems, is already upgrading the ARGUS-IS to make it capable of night vision and follow 130 windows or targets, double the number of windows the A160 Hummingbird can stare at. This version will be tested starting the middle of next year.

The need for better drones comes as Predators in Afghanistan have mistook Pakistani forces for enemies leading to an airstrike that killed 24 soldiers in November. Iran has also captured intact one such drone over Iranian air space.