Payloads
DRS Technologies, Inc., has announced that its Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) business unit has produced an advanced, full-featured thermal camera that consumes less than one watt of power to produce a thermal image. Slightly smaller than a golf ball, the Tamarisk 320 occupies less than 30 cubic
Testing
Northrop Grumman has just released video of the MQ-8B Fire Scout conducting first test flights from the U.S. Navy's littoral combat ship, USS Freedom (LCS 1) in November 2010. Source: Northrop Grumman
Military
The US Navy issued a $42 million contract last week to convert eight Army Fire Scouts to “Navy configuration,” with the goal that the aircraft will be ready for service by 2013. Jamie Cosgrove, a spokeswoman for Naval Air Systems Command, says “The Army aircraft are just bare airframes without
Military
Pentagon weapons buyer Ashton Carter met with Northrop, Boeing and Lockheed executives at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale last week to discuss the military's plans to build a fleet of radar-evading, long-range bombers that the military hopes to have ready for action by the mid-
Events
Arcturus is displaying its new T-20 at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Tampa, Florida. The T-20 has a 17-foot wingspan, putting it in the so-called Tier II class of unmanned aircraft. The company claims the device can carry up to 65 pounds of payload,
Data Links & Communications
When Kyle Stanbro retired from the military in 2004, he put his energies into making a lighter and more physically intuitive video receiver for ground forces to receive UAS feeds to replace the ToughBook currently in use. Called the Mover-IV, the foot-long black push-button device looks like
Training
Blurring the lines between gaming and reality US Air Force has released a spectacular new video game on its adventurous recruiting site. The new game invites potential recruits to ‘Fly the Reaper’
Military
U.S. Special Operations Command will be turning over its unmanned helicopters to the Army. SOCOM will be seeking other options that better suit special operators' needs, officials said. Army Col. Douglas Rombough, programme executive officer for rotary wing at SOCOM, said that the A160 Hummingbird, built by Boeing
Testing
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated that its Heterogeneous Airborne Reconnaissance Team (HART) system increases warfighter situational awareness during a recent Spiral 7 DARPA field exercise conducted March 7-18, 2011, at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. The HART system autonomously manages a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft and sensors
Military
AAI has built a new unmanned aircraft, a substantial upgrade of the standard RQ-7 Shadow. The new aircraft, reportedly in the blended-wing configuration, is designed with two payload bays. Two internally-funded prototypes have been built, but neither has yet flown. First flight is expected in the summer
Data Links & Communications
Northrop Grumman has contracted Thinklogical for key infrastructure systems for the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System. Under the award, the Connecticut-based company will supply its VelocityKVM and VX Router System, the highest bandwidth system in deployment, to provide seamless interaction between flight
Military
Alenia Aeronautica, has announced that it has recently delivered the Weapon Bay Doors & Mechanism for nEUROn (the new-generation technology demonstrator for a European Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle - UCAV) to Dassault Aviation. This complex system was designed, built and integrated entirely by Alenia Aeronautica to include the weapon housing