No fraternity beer keg party could include what the troops from the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Pennsylvania National Guard revealed, with a small gasoline-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) nicknamed the “Flying Beer Keg,” (also known as) the XM156 Class I UAV. When the Stryker Brigade deploys this month to Iraq their XM156 Class I UAV, which resembles a beer keg, is capable of hovering over areas that standard surveillance methods aren't capable of covering and offer instant uplink to ground units. Soldier operating the Flying Beer Keg (Credit: US Army Future Combat Systems)

The XM156 Class I UAV monitors an area of 10 km, functions in bad weather with winds up to 20 miles per hour, and remains in the air for around 40 minutes. This UAV has been delegated to the status of Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) rather than UAV. The 'beer keg' is small enough to fit in a backpack, and weighs in at less than 50 pounds, including fuel. The vehicle manipulates much like a helicopter with a propeller that draws in air through a duct to provide lift. The craft is a product of Honeywell and is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Flying Beer Keg next to the backpacks designed to carry it (Credit: US Army Future Combat Systems)