The Navy says it's leaning toward choosing the Eagle Eye Tilt Rotor UAV for its spy plane of choice. The Eagle Eye UAV is the little brother of the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor manned aircraft. The Eagle Eye takes off vertically like a helicopter and then tilts the rotors forward and flys like a plane (VTOL). So, the Eagle Eye has the advantage of taking off and landing in confined spaces like on ship decks. The Eagle Eye can be used for surveilence or for carrying lethal payloads. The Coast Guard has already chosen the Eagle Eye for its UAV spy plane and plans to test them and put them into service in 2005.

Other slants: UV Online, Business Wire, ABC News, Eye in the Sky, New breed of robots, USA TOday, FAS, RotorHead, Global Security (with more pictures at bottom), More info, Helis.com, A Mars UAV? .