Inventor Arne Skjaerpe had been dreaming of creating a tiny flying device for years. But the scale he had in mind was financially beyond his reach. Then he figured out a brilliant way to fund his project: Create a cheaper, more primitive version and license it as a toy.

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The BladeRunner sold in the millions, and Skjaerpe used the proceeds to set up a company called Prox Dynamics, where he could build what he'd really been after:

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That's the PD-100 Black Hornet PRS (Personal Reconnaissance System), an impossibly tiny 18-gram microcopter with steerable on-board cameras that can beam live video back to the operator. Two of the drones come tucked inside this carrying case, seen below alongside the controller:

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Designed for military purposes, the Hornet can zip along at five meters per second and can stay aloft for 25 minutes, giving the operator a maximum range of 1.5 kilometers (assuming it's a one-way trip). That's also how far the datalink between drone and controller will reach. But for a more practical mission where the operator wants the drone back, they can pilot it to its intended destination, observe what they want to observe, and then have the drone automatically return to them via GPS-guided autopilot.

This thing has to be seen in action to be believed:

Is it any wonder they cost $40,000 each?

This isn't a mere concept or prototype, by the way: The British military has been using them in-theater (Afghanistan) since 2012, and last year Prox Dynamics set up a U.S. outpost. U.S. Special Forces have reportedly given the Hornets a test-drive.

Skjaerpe, by the way, apparently has his own word for the devices. As DefenseOne reports,

It's the smallest flying robot ever used in a combat setting, says Skjaerpe, who isn't fond of the term "drone." He prefers the term "sensor," more and more of which are making their way onto the bodies of dismounted soldiers.

It will be interesting to see what happens when "sensors" like these eventually trickle down to U.S. police forces, assuming they can muster up the cash.