CHECK – “The battle of the future”: has the American army developed “raven drones” capable of going unnoticed? | TF1 Info

• A clip seen more than a million times claims to reveal “the battle of the future”.
• A “raven drone” would have been developed by the American army.
• The AI-generated video does not reflect any documented reality.

The face-off between the United States and Iran once again demonstrates the extent to which the war has become asymmetrical (nouvelle fenêtre). A military superpower finds itself mired in a conflict against a state with relatively simple but formidable means: drones. So to face this new reality, the American army would demonstrate ingenuity. An Internet user says this Monday, May 4 (nouvelle fenêtre) reveal the images of a “military base” in which soldiers allegedly demonstrated “new drones that mimic crows”. “These devices look so much like real birds that it’s hard to spot them.”he concludes in a message seen 1.4 million times, already predicting “the battle of the future”.

Inconsistencies betray the use of AI

In images worthy of a science fiction film, a soldier appears to turn on a flying robot. The animaloid takes flight. Then successfully places an explosive device on a target. Except that several visual elements allow us to doubt the authenticity of this sequence. Starting with writing. If the American flag appears on the soldier’s arm, the surname band is suspect: instead of displaying the man’s name, we can see incoherent shapes. Furthermore, the machine in the background does not resemble any American army vehicle. Finally, while the sequence shows this “bird” drop a load on a defined area, it continues to hold the box in its claws after delivery. So many clues that betray the use of artificial intelligence (nouvelle fenêtre) (IA).

Using a reverse image search, we found the first occurrence of this clip. It links to a publication posted on Instagram (nouvelle fenêtre) from March 16. Although the legend also mentions a demonstration carried out on “a military testing site”it specifies at the end of the paragraph that its contents are “entirely fictional”, “créés à l’aide de l’IA”. In fact, the entire account is created using this new technology.

Followed by more than 468,000 people, this fake influencer (nouvelle fenêtre) exclusively shares AI-generated videos, each one more impressive than the last. Beyond innovative robots, a recurring theme in demonstrations of the capabilities of image generation tools, she multiplies spectacular content, such as the one where she pretends to walk on water after having attached several empty plastic bottles to her shoes.

The bird, this “ancestor of the drone”

If these creations are false, their success can be explained by fantasies around evolution (nouvelle fenêtre) technological. Especially since in the past, birds were able to invite themselves onto the battlefield. Thus, during the First World War, carrier pigeons were one of the most widely used means of communication, so much so that each tank was equipped with its own bird. In France alone, it is estimated that between 40,000 and 60,000 of them were mobilized during this conflict. The French army describes (nouvelle fenêtre) even this volatile like “l’ancestre du drone”. 

The raven also almost became an intelligence star. In 2019, the very powerful CIA, the United States intelligence agency, made public its archives on tests (nouvelle fenêtre) carried out during the Cold War, including the “Tacana” program. Among the very special agents, corvids whose skills were tested in the early 1970s. The CIA then hoped that they could be trained for espionage missions, such as placing a recorder on the edge of a window. It is perhaps because these sparrows are known for their intelligence in handling tools that they have been associated in these videos with military operations.

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The fact remains that at this stage, the United States has never reported the use of drones imitating the appearance of a crow. The available sources, notably through American programs, well documented in the reports of the Ministry of Defense, do not mention any biomimetic aircraft project, that is to say which would be inspired by the characteristics of the bird. In reality, the only “crow” identified within the American army is the RQ-11 Raven (literally raven in English). Light combat drone (nouvelle fenêtre)it is shaped like an airplane and is launched by hand before being propelled by an electric motor. We are very far from the ultra-technological green eye and the flapping of wings.

Do you want to ask us questions or submit information that you think is unreliable? Do not hesitate to write to us at lesverificateurs@tf1.fr. Find us also on X: our team is there behind the account @verif_TF1LCI (nouvelle fenêtre).