A saucer-shaped aircraft on a wide flatbed truck driving around the Capitol Beltway had some people wondering if the government was moving an alien UFO in or near Washington, D.C., last Wednesday night. Motorists snapped photos of the strange object and posted them on Twitter, some people became
Data Links & Communications
MicroStrain’s new LXRS "lossless” wireless communication protocol (patent pending) supports scalable networks of high speed sensor nodes without data loss due to temporary radio frequency (RF) fading, multipath, or interference. MicroStrain’s users have previously enjoyed a typical RF packet success rate of 99%. But now, with MicroStrain’
Business
Russia and Israel are negotiating a joint project to build an unmanned aircraft, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday.“We are negotiating with Israel. Our aim is to persuade them to start technological cooperation and to develop a product that will be used in both countries, and
President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday that Venezuela has begun to assemble Kalashnikov assault rifles with assistance from Russia and started producing unmanned surveillance aircraft.Venezuela has spent billions of dollars for Russian arms and military aircraft since 2005, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets, dozens of attack helicopters and 100,
This video explores the innovation behind Lockheed Martin's maple seed-inspired Samarai. Lockheed Martin’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratories has spent the last five years developing an unmanned craft to replicate the motion of maple tree seeds, whirring softly to the ground like silent one-winged helicopters. The result
Business
The developer of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that is orders of magnitude smaller than other radars was awarded a $24 million contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Natick, Mass., to build a “lightweight, ultra-wideband” SAR for unmanned aircraft systems for completion in 2017. The Department
Testing
The Israel Air Force (IAF) is currently examining hyper-spectral camera technology, which could allow unmanned aircraft systems to collect a wide variety of information, some invisible to the human eye. Experiments are currently underway, in order to examine if the system is suitable for use within the IAF. If
Training
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has developed a simulator for operators controlling Lynx Multi-mode Radars on unmanned and manned aircraft.The Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Simulator (TARS) is software that can run on a laptop. “TARS is unique because it is highly transportable but still replicates the actions that a sensor
Business
The Danish Acquisition and Logistics Organization today announced at Eurosatory it has awarded AeroVironment a firm fixed-price order of $9.6 million to supply the Danish Armed Forces with the company’s Puma AE small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).AeroVironment was selected following a competitive evaluation. “Allied armed forces
Military
Northrop Grumman Corp. plans to unveil on Thursday an advanced version of the BAMS, with a considerably reinforced airframe and new sensors and software. Northrop's MQ-4C has the same sweeping, 130.9-foot wingspan and whale-nosed silhouette as the unmanned aircraft whose airframe it uses, the
Business
Boeing is getting "very close to having what we'd say is a very capable design" to pitch for the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) programme, according to Chris Chadwick, President of the company's military aircraft division. Talking to
Testing
Saab recently performed a unique live demonstration of how the Skeldar system operates together with other tactical systems – adding a link in the sensor-to-shooter loop. The demonstration took place at the Swedish Armed Forces Ground Combat Days in southern Sweden. The ability to be rapidly tasked and dynamically