The UK's manning level on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air system has been revealed, with the information disclosed in response to a parliamentary question. Asked "how many drone pilots are currently qualified in the Royal Air Force; and how many are undergoing
Accidents
Hobby radio-controlled aircraft test magazine Nitro Planes just posted this video compilation of crashes during flight tests. There are times where crashing is inevitable due to a wide variety of causes. We just so happened to catch some of them. Here are a few crashes from 2012. Source: YouTube
Unmanned aircraft systems will make a significant contribution in defending the huge gas reservoirs that have been discovered in the Mediterranean off the Israeli coast. A senior source says that operational assessments made in recent months have determined that UAS will play a "major role" in surveillance tasks
An unmanned aircraft shot down by F-16 jets in south Israel was apparently launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah, or perhaps even by the Iranians themselves. The Israeli Defence Force is looking into the possibility that the aircraft was supposed to photograph the Dimona reactor. A few hours after two
National Associations
On 2 October 2012, the creation of ASSORPAS (Associazione Italiana per I Light RPAS), the new Italian national association for Light RPAS (MTOM <150 kg), was formally announced. The founding members of ASSORPAS comprise 15 Italian companies, consisting of 6 system integrators/manufacturers, 6 RPAS operators, 3 sub-system/
Chengyu Cao sees a day in the not-so-distant future when intelligent robots will be working alongside humans on a wide range of important tasks from advancing science, to performing deep sea rescues, to monitoring our natural habitats. It’s a bold leap from the pre-programmed factory robots
Commercial
The Outback Rescue Challenge, a competition for developers of unmanned aircraft systems, was held at Kingaroy in Queensland from Monday to Wednesday. An unmanned aircraft was able to find a dummy of a missing bushwalker with no human intervention in what CSIRO believes is a world-first for a non-
VTOL
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Aurora Flight Sciences Sept. 28 to develop robotic rotorcraft capable of supporting rapid autonomous aerial cargo delivery to the battlefield. ONR is initially providing $28 million to the industry-led teams to develop prototype concepts in the Autonomous
The Indian Air Force is planning to induct its first self-destructing combat UAS from Israel by next year for enhancing its firepower. The Israeli-made unmanned combat air vehicle(UCAV) will give IAF the capability of hitting high value targets such as enemy missile and radar sites without sending
Business
The US Defense Department's latest annual industrial base assessment includes rosy predictions for developers of high-tech unmanned aircraft that have become essential elements of U.S. military operations. Although declines in manned tactical aircraft may be expected, development of unmanned aircraft systems is "a key area
Testing
Boeing engineers are using 3-D printing to aid in rapid prototyping efforts. 3-D printing is similar to that of a standard inkjet printer. A computer generated 3-D model is sent to the printer, which divides it into extremely thin cross sections. A powder is layered across each
Business
Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington are asking industry to participate in a fly-off evaluation of small unmanned aircraft systems and integrated UAS sensor payloads for potential use by local civil authorities maritime border and maritime security, law enforcement, search and rescue, fire,