The company describes its product as a portable, single-use "loitering munition".

They will be the first unit to deploy the new Fire Shadow loitering munition; training has already begun and they were planned to take it to Afghanistan in 2012.

Named the BattleHawk Squad-Level Loitering Munition, the drone is being tested at an Army facility in New Mexico.

U.S. Army regulations categorize the Switchblade as a missile rather than a drone, and the term "loitering munition" is preferred to describe it; unlike UAVs, it is not recoverable once launched.

The new projects include a Loitering Munition programme, to develop a weapon that can hover over a battle zone for several hours before striking a target when it appears, and a 50kg air-to-ground missile for combat aircraft including the Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon and Apache.

In October 2005, MBDA submitted the Harop (under the name "White Hawk") to the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence for consideration as the system for the Ministry's Loitering Munition Capability Demonstration (LMCD) program, otherwise known as "Fire Shadow".

"Reconnaissance as well as suicide drones, which are capable of attacking the hypothetical enemies, were deployed and their operational capabilities were studied," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

Indeed, kamikaze drones may fundamentally reshape naval strategy and tactics in the years ahead.

They're small and fast, particularly when jammed up to top velocity, and they pack a considerable punch, and kamikaze drones have nothing to lose.

A backpack-size kamikaze drone ordered into combat by the U.S. Army could also soon become an aerial scout for U.S. Navy submarines hidden beneath the waves.