Business
The U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has issued an RFP for contractors to operate unmanned aerial vehicles for the purposes of gathering intelligence and conducting surveillance and reconnaissance. Contractors supply the pilots, the aircraft and the support systems. SOCOM's current Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations and
Commercial
DJI updated its Phantom series with two new models, the Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced. Both models look a lot like the current Phantom 2 Vision+, but include improvements in flight precision and imaging quality. The compact quadcopters are small enough to fit into a backpack or similarly
Regulations
The Federal Aviation Administration has received over 2,000 comments on its proposed rules for commercial drone flights in the U.S. The 2,000th comment was received Wednesday and hundreds more are likely to be filed before the deadline on April 24. Some of the comments assail the FAA
Business
Event 38, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles for business announced a key partnership with Dronecenter Tecnologia, a supplier of unmanned aerial systems in Brazil. Under this agreement, Dronecenter will offer Event 38’s flagship E384 drone and custom optical sensors to its clients in Brazil and throughout South America.
Events
The 43rd UAV-DACH Conference takes place from April 14th 13:00h through April 15th 17:00h at the RPAS-Expo of AERO2015 Friedrichshafen, Exhibition Area Hangar A2. The exhibition area RPAS Expo (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) provides a comprehensive overview of the capabilities of unmanned flying objects. Visitors are
Video
Leroy Grumman's Legacy Lives on at Paine Field in Everett, Washington I can't think of a better way to celebrate the life of Leroy Grumman than to share a collection of photos and video showing off the three incredible Grumman 'Cats that call Paine Field
Flying is a recurring theme in the Bionic Learning Network. The developers channelled their knowledge gained from the projects on the BionicOpter and the eMotionSpheres into the bionic butterflies. They combine the ultralight construction of artificial insects with coordinated flying behaviour in a collective. Coordinated flying thanks to indoor GPS
Thales has proposed teaming with Polish industry to offer a weaponised version of the WK450 Watchkeeper unmanned air vehicle for Warsaw’s tactical UAV requirement. Under the proposal, the British Army’s surveillance UAV would be adapted by Polish partners – potentially Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, the Institute of Aviation, WB Group,
Commercial
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved USAA’s request to test how unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, could help speed review of insurance claims from its members following natural disasters. USAA is one of the first insurers to be granted the approval for such testing. “Our members have
Propulsion
UAV Turbines, Inc. (UAVT) has announced the launch of its leading-edge gas turbine technology to the Unmanned Aircraft industry. Ranging in power from 30 hp to 150 hp, UAVT's engines are designed specifically to address Group 3 and above UAV programs. These engines will increase reliability, flight
Agriculture
BioCarbon Engineering, based in the UK, has developed a system of planting trees with drones, at just a fraction of the cost (15%) of traditional reforestation methods, and at a speed that manual planting can't match - up to 10s of thousands of trees planted per day - and aims
Aerial Photography
Brain Farm paired a Phantom Flex4K with an Aerigon UAV to shoot the world's first Ultra High Definition, 4K aerial drone footage. The combination is a cinematic game changer. What does 1000 frames per second at 4K resolution translate to? Stunningly high-quality slow motion footage. Until now