Chris Anderson, over at DIY Drones, recently posted a full page advertisement, from the July edition of the AUVSI magazine, for AUS International’s AirSniper product. The AirSniper is described as, “a VTOL combat mini UAV intended for close infantry support.†Or, in other word
Chris,
You claim to be “Editor in Chief of Wired Magazineâ€. Your blog and the article with your words pasted on wired.com are the only web sites I know of that have taken your position to our ad.
We advertised in Unmanned Systems magazine, which is read by completely different crowd than those reading “Do It Yourself†blog, and purpose of our ad was to have customers lined up when the product is released, which it accomplished. I don’t really care whether you “shut up†or not. (They say there is no such thing as bad publicity 
) But from someone calling himself “Editor in Chief†I would have expected more professionalism.
It’s vaporware until you show it. Shame on you for advertising something that doesn’t exist.
We don’t claim to do journalism. We (diydrones) also don’t make claims unless we can back up them up with hardware and software available for all to inspect.
Show us the videos and we’ll shut up 
Chris,
It’s real at least to the extent that a bunch of people have been working hard to make it as real as advertised. We are not asking anyone for any money and we wouldn’t spend nearly $20 grand on going to Farnborough show and advertising it if we didn’t think we’ll be able deliver.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but having a blog with your opinions without bothering to ask at least for a comment from people you report on is not a “real†journalism either, is it.
Chris,
There is nothing technologically unbelievable that the company is promising. Does a comical advertisement and an unusual list of features automatically make them liars?
I’m not saying that the AirSniper is a good idea, or that it will ever come to market, but it seems that with all the mockery, at least someone should have to checked to see what the company has to say. I did, and that’s what I’m reporting.
I’ll take two of the flying bridges, though. Can you make sure they’re wide enough to fit my flying tanks?
"So, there you have it. The AirSniper is real - all of you naysayers can be silenced. "
Wow. So that’s all it takes to convince you? The guy from the company says “No, it really is real!” and you say “Good enough for me!”.
Until they deliver the goods–flying, shooting and all the rest–in a forum where it can be inspected I’m calling BS on this one.
In the meantime, I’ve got a flying bridge (no, really!) that I’d love to sell you
