This week Boeing patented a drone magazine, which deploys drones instead of cartridges.

Drones are becoming an important part of modern military. Various drones have different capabilities, some drones can be used for surveillance, while some other drones can be used to even hit targets. Currently, these drones are launched from ground, which puts the ground forces at risk.

Boeing has come up with an Ingenious solution. They have patented a drone magazine, which stores multiple drones with different capabilities. The drone magazine can be mounted on a helicopter, which carries the drones near the target area. A robotic arm is used to hold the drone and pull it out of the magazine. Thereafter, the drone is released. The opposite process is used to retrieve the drone.

The drone magazine will significantly increase the use of drones by the military. They will be able to use drones with dynamically changing mission objectives. I hope we can find some other uses of the drone magazine apart from the military applications.

Patent Information
Patent Number: 9,132,916
Patent Title: Aircraft deployment and retrieval of unmanned aerial vehicles
Inventors: Hanna; Mark (Medford, NJ), Poling; David R. (West Chester, PA)
Assignee: The Boeing Company (Chicago, IL)
Family ID: 49485526
Appl. No.: 13/664,323
Filed: October 30, 2012