The U.S. military has been working for a while on tiny, buglike drones — to serve as miniature flying spies, Defense Department robot-makers say. But this video, from the Air Force Research Laboratory, shows that the military is also interested in turning these "Micro Air Vehicles," or MAVs, into biomorphic weapons that can lie in secret for weeks at a time — and then strike an adversary with lethal accuracy.

"Individual MAVs may perform direct-attack missions," says the video's gravelly voiced narrator. "They can be equipped with incapacitation chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives for precision-targeting capability."