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,
Testing
The Alcatel-Lucent engineers, the prototypers of the Bell Labs Acceleration Platform and the engineers from Parrot got together to discuss a proof of concept for piloting an AR.Drone using 4G/LTE. Parrot, the French company famed for its automotive and multimedia products, launched into action with its AR.
Business
Mav6 has announced that it has divested its airship business. The Vicksburg, Mississippi-based defence technology company leveraged this capability to execute work on the Blue Devil Block 2 system — a long endurance airship integrated with advanced sensor payloads built for the US Air Force. Mav6 Co-founder and Managing
Testing
Under a follow-on contractual effort from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Boeing will continue developing a truck-mounted directed energy system that improves warfighters' ability to counter rockets, artillery, mortars and unmanned aerial threats. Under the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD)
Commercial
In response to the many questions received by the DGAC (French Civil Aviation Authority) concerning the RPAS operator authorizations granted by the DGAC, the decision was taken this summer to make a list of RPAS operators authorized to conduct flight operations in France available online on their web site. On
Commercial
Japan has pressed into service an unmanned helicopter to measure radiation levels within a three-kilometer radius of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where detailed studies have not been conducted since the accident last year. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency decided to use the unmanned chopper as
Electronic Sub-Systems
Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation, announced the successful flight test of the AN/ZPY-4(V) Maritime Surveillance Radar (AN/ZPY-4(V)) upgraded with a Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) mode. This radar is an enhanced version of the radar designed and built for the
Testing
China's Sunward Tech SVU200 unmanned helicopter has successfully completed its first flight tests. The helicopter's first full autonomous flight occurred on 4 September near the Chinese city of Changsha, says Dennis Fetters, owner of Fetters Aerospace. Fetters is an American rotorcraft developer who designed the SVU200
Business
The Polish Ministry of National Defence has cancelled a contract concluded in 2010 with the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems for the supply of Aerostar medium-range unmanned aircraft. The company has once again failed to meet deadlines, in spite of their postponement for two years. Aeronautics was to begin
Events
The UAS Nordic Conference (UNC 12) is the largest Nordic UAS conference and provides in a single day full overview of what is going on in unmanned flight. It will take place on 13th November 2012 in Oslo Congress Centre in Youngstorget, near the central communications and accommodation at Oslo