Business
Sentient announced that it has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Insitu Inc. to integrate Kestrel land and maritime automated detection software systems into Insitu’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Currently deployed as a separate product, Kestel operates adjacent to Insitu systems. The incorporation of Kestrel software into Insitu’
Military
The UK will double the number of armed RAF Reapers in Afghanistan to 10 with the new aircraft to be operated remotely from Britain. A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman confirmed that pilots based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire would fly the five recently-bought unmanned aircraft. The hi-tech Reaper
Military
French President Francois Hollande Gets His Teeth into It France will move two unmanned surveillance aircraft to West Africa and is holding secretive talks with U.S. officials in Paris this week as it seeks to steer international military action to help Mali's feeble government win back the
Accidents
A NATO E-3 Sentry almost hit the tail of the tanker and its flying boom during air-to-air refueling operations. Not only the close proximity of the two large planes was dangerous, but also the evasive maneuver the pilot performs to avoid collision: the AWACS pulls several negative
In a bold and innovative move, the University of North Dakota has formed the country's first Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Research Compliance Committee that aims to get ahead of federal plans to regulate UAS in terms of privacy concerns and other social issues.The committee met for the
Testing
High-performance motion control systems are the workhorses that enable payloads to dependably execute their missions with pinpoint accuracy. Usually, a system designer comes up with the idea for the application first—UAS, security sensor, communications system, thermal surveillance, etc.—then almost always bumps into this question: “How do I
Business
Aurora Flight Sciences and SRI International Sarnoff have announced the integration of the SRI Sarnoff DL Micro digital data link and video processor into the Aurora Skate Small Unmanned Aerial System (SUAS). This pairing maximizes the real-time delivery of quality video from the SUAS. Small, unmanned aircraft systems are
Business
Switzerland has completed in-country flight evaluations of two Israeli unmanned aircraft systems, with a decision on its medium-altitude, long-endurance surveillance requirement expected to be made during 2014. Israel Aerospace Industries' Heron 1 (above) was tested by the Armasuisse procurement agency in September, with the activity having
Business
British-company BCB International just unveiled its SQ-4 Recon UAV, a miniature unmanned surveillance aircraft that's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The company says the UAS can fly up to 30 minutes on a full charge, and it is capable of operating
NASA has issued a Request for Information - Centennial Challenges Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Airspace Operations Challenge. NASA's Centennial Challenge Programme seeks to stimulate innovation in technologies that have value to NASA and the nation through open prize competitions that directly engage the public, academia, and industry. NASA is
Testing
In one of its latest research projects, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory is investigating thermoelectric properties of materials on the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System, and techniques that could convert heat into energy. The Shadow UAS, is used by the Army and Marine Corps for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition
When the team behind DARPA’s Plan X mapped out where it wanted to go with research in the development of cyber capabilities and platforms, it knew the DARPA approach to problem solving included soliciting input from the leading experts in the field. On October 15 and 16, DARPA outlined