Ornadyne's small O1 ornithopter drone doesn't use propellers like most drones. Instead, it mimics the flight mechanics of a bird by flapping its wings to stay in the air. The small unmanned aerial system (UAS) is designed to resemble a bird, while it collects intelligence or surveys an area at low altitudes.

"It looks like a bird, it moves similar to a bird, and humans and counter-UAS systems can misclassify it as a bird," Armen Arakelyan, one of Ornadyne's co-founders, said in a Department of Defense release. "It's also a lot quieter because we replaced propellers with flapping wings."

The test was part of the military's annual "Game of Drones" event in September at Edwards Air Force Base, which sits in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. The base hosts drone exercises each quarter to test new tech. The event is sponsored by the Air Force 412th Test Wing's Experimental Test Force and the Defense Contract Management Agency's Blue List team, which approves commercial drones for sale to the U.S. military.