Business
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $146,664,212 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Future Advanced Strike (FAST) effort. The objective of FAST is to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and precision strike capability. The work to be performed provides for the completion of design modifications currently
Regulations
The FAA announced that it’s eyeing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) exemption approvals for four top aviation firms, opening the door to expanded unmanned operations. Now we know exactly what permissions they’re asking for. The FAA has now published the requests of the four companies—Phoenix Air
Transport
While I was in China, I learned that the dominant Chinese food delivery platform, Meituan, has been flying delivery drones in the city for more than a year now, and I wanted to check it out myself. I found that the reality of drone delivery is still far from ideal,
Business
Sniffer Robotics, a leading environmental technology enabled services firm, has announced first and substantial close of a $2 million seed funding round, led by the Michigan Angel Fund. Other investors include Michigan Rise, Naruhisa Nakagawa (founder of Caygan Capital), and Abhishek Desai of Desai Ventures (London). The start-up, founded
Transport
RigiTech, a Swiss provider of advanced drone delivery solutions, is proud to announce its partnership with Spright, the U.S.-based unmanned aerial system operator. This strategic alliance and commitment to deploy the Eiger delivery system further signals the reliability of RigiTech's technology and comprehensive solutions. As part
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is supporting a demonstration that began in March and is featuring two U.S. Army-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). GA-ASI – the developer of the GE-ER platform – was contracted by the Army to integrate and
Military
The U.S. Army concluded the Base Period of the Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (FTUAS) Program of Record (formerly Increment 2) effort and awarded agreement option 1 to the following four Project Agreement Holders (PAHs): Griffon Aerospace, Incorporated; Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation; Sierra Nevada Corporation; and Textron Systems Corporation.
Video
The Blohm & Voss BV 155 was a German high-altitude interceptor aircraft intended to be used by the Luftwaffe against raids by USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Work started on the design as the Messerschmitt Me 155 in 1942, but the project went through a protracted development period and
Commercial
Wingtra has unveiled the RGB61 payload. Engineers have customized the Sony Alpha 7 Mark IV 61MP RGB camera to offer the most efficient, data-light UAV data solution on the market. All of this while offering seamless, in-app light-settings control, and reliable, ultra-high accuracy image capture with
Research
The lack of a single communication standard among drone makers has made it difficult for information to be shared between drones, but a Korean research team has found a solution. The Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that four contributions related to the ‘Unmanned Aircraft Area Network’ were
Weapons based on commercial FPV-drones are not exclusive for the Ukrainian forces – Russians develop them, too, as well as ways of enhancing their combat effectiveness and EW protection. Ukrainian Defense Forces, from the regular army to police servicemen, have been actively using small and cheap camera drones as first-
Military
The Dutch defence ministry will buy bombs and missiles worth between €100 million and €250 million to arm its MQ-9A Reaper drones, state secretary for defence Christophe van der Maat announced on Tuesday. The decision was taken by the government in The Hague and follows a general trend seen