60 Minutes almost abandoned this week's story on autonomous military drones for a simple reason: the devices were almost impossible to film
June 15, 2017

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent David Martin and producer Mary Walsh reported on the development of an autonomous drone called the Perdix, bringing viewers a rare glimpse of the future of combat. Martin and Walsh convinced the Department of Defense to let 60 Minutes cameras film a stunning first test of a 100-strong swarm of Perdix drones....

But the 60 Minutes story almost didn't happen. The Perdix drone flies too fast— upwards of 40–50 miles per hour—and too unpredictably for a conventional news camera to follow.