Australian weapons developers have been inspired by the capacity of insects to spot and zero in on food and the ability of bees to avoid colliding with each other in a .

Australia's Defense Science and Technology Organization has been looking at how the existing research into insects' navigation and sight could make weapons more reliable and improve their ability to hit moving .

Through its collaboration with several electronics companies, a new system known as 'Bioseeker' has been developed.

Project Manager Philip Henschke says the study of insects has been vital.

"A variety of insects have a unique capability to find the moving target and that's the particular holy of what we're interested in from a weapons application in defense. What we've actually done is looked at the mathematics of how an insect sees and we've taken that mathematics and from that we've looked at an that will enable us to do what we call a bio-image generation, a map of the movement within a scene."

This information was then analyzed in special software to create a system designed to find, and destroy moving targets.

The Bioseeker technology is scheduled to final testing, later this year. Its architects believe that, if it is eventually used in battle, it will make soldiers safer by taking them away from the enemy.

Researchers to produce a low-cost seeker-and-guidance system that could eventually be reduced to the size of a coffee cup. Possible applications include placing the technology inside used on the Australian Army's Tiger Attack helicopters.

The Australian military is relatively small, with about 50,000 personnel. However, the force has a reputation for technological innovation.

The government in Canberra has said that, by 2020, it hopes to bring into service a of Super Hornet jet fighters and an early-warning aircraft, as well as a range of new helicopters and airborne airplanes.

The Australian military is involved in missions in East Timor, Sudan and the Solomon Islands and with the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.