SkyNet has gone live. (Photo/Amazon)

The idea of civilian drones delivering packages is not necessarily new, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' interview with 60 Minutes made that future seem a lot less distant than it did just a few weeks ago.

SEE ALSO: Civilian Drones Deliver Everything From Mail To Wedding Rings

Bezos went on CBS' news magazine to talk with Charlie Rose about Cyber Monday, fulfillment center heirachies and Amazon's cloud services - which will be hosting data for the CIA for a hefty $600 million.

The enigmatic Internet tycoon even hinted that Amazon is working on a set-top box within the secretive confines of Lab 126, a research facility located in California, where "designers and engineers on experimenting on next genervation devices."

But that wasn't even the most exciting development. 

No, the wildly anticipated surprise was something that many have foreseen, but nobody knew Amazon was already developing: an army of octocopter delivery drones dubbed Amazon Prime Air. 

Prime Air is still several years away from deployment, but after the project clears FAA hurdles, the Internet conglomerate will be able to deliver packages up to five pounds in 30 minutes. That accounts for almost 86 percent of the packages that Amazon delivers.

Bezos thinks Prime Air will be a good fit with urban consumers initially, due to the 10-mile delivery radius currently imposed by present technology.

"These generations of vehicles, it could be a 10-mile radius from a fulfillment center. So, in urban areas, you could actually cover very significant portions of the population. And so, it won’t work for everything; you know, we’re not gonna deliver kayaks or table saws this way," Bezos told 60 Minutes.

The earliest Amazon can get clearance from the FAA is 2015, but it's not unimaginable that in just a couple of years, Amazon could be delivering your holidays gifts via drones.

Reach editor Will Federman here. Follow him on Twitter.