Australia has around a dozen invasive feral species, from wild pigs to dogs, and one Australian company wants to send military-grade drones chasing after them. To get rid of the pests, which can kill livestock and damage land, Australian farmers have tried hunts and poison for decades. "Quality intelligence" has been lacking in this particular fight, Marcus Ehrlich, managing director of Ninox Robotics, told Mashable Australia. That's where Ninox Robotics's drones come in. The team is in the process of testing their SpyLite drones in what they claim is the most ambitious civilian trial ever undertaken in Australia. The three weeks worth of testing is running in Queensland and New South Wales, and aims to manually spot a variety of feral animals and relay that information in real-time to pest control specialists, among other missions. In a recent trial, depicted in the video above, the drone tracked down a person lost in the bush, searched for small fires and located guard dogs in a flock of sheep, as well as identifying some wild pigs. The team won trial approval from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to fly the drones beyond line of sight, to a height of more than 400 metres and at night — a civilian Australian first, according to Ninox Robotics. CASA's spokesperson, Peter Gibson, confirmed the company has trial approval, but said he had no idea if they were the first. The company, which is still privately funded, hopes to apply for and receive a full commercial license from CASA by the end of the year. Ninox's drones, manufactured by Israeli producer BlueBird Aero Systems, have the ability to relay both normal camera visuals and infrared thermal vision. They can fly for around three to four hours sending that data back the ground, according to the Ninox team, and have been able to reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour. Ehrlich said the company was looking to hire former Australia Defence Force pilots to man their drones. For around A$3,500 per sortie, Ninox Robotics proposes to come to a farmer's property and surveil the area for the targeted pests. "We think between farming clusters, agribusinesses and government agencies, it's cost-effective and affordable," Ehrlich said. He claims they've had a lot of initial interest from farmers. "This won't be the silver bullet, but it may the best solution we've got for this problem," Ehrlich said.
Israeli farmers want to send military drones to help deal with pests that kill livestock and damage the land. CASA has been testing drones across Australia and New South Wales that aims to spot a variety of feral animals, locate guard dogs and search for forest fires. Queensland 's CASA ( CASA ) approved the drones for a trials.