Business
Scion UAS, LLC has won a government contract worth up to $3 million to supply unmanned helicopters for unspecified uses.The company must deliver one such helicopter to the Naval Research Laboratory within six months, another three months later, with an option for a third, according to Scion co-founder
Technology
Today, October 9 2012, Felix Baumgartner will attempt a record-breaking freefall jump from 120,000 feet - 23 miles - above the earth as part of Red Bull Stratos: a mission to the edge of space. The attempt will take place near Roswell, NM, USA, and if successful, Felix Baumgartner could
On September 27, 2012, during the test flight of an ANKA prototype aircraft, a technical problem occurred that caused it to crash. The ANKA performed its first flight in December 2010, and has flown a six-month-long development test flights programme (for a total of about 100 sorties), began
Testing
DARPA just released this video showing excerpts of a close-proximity test flight of two modified RQ-4A Global Hawks. This demonstration proved for the first time that High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) class aircraft can safely and autonomously perform the steps required for in-flight refuelling. The video shows
The UK's manning level on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air system has been revealed, with the information disclosed in response to a parliamentary question. Asked "how many drone pilots are currently qualified in the Royal Air Force; and how many are undergoing
Accidents
Hobby radio-controlled aircraft test magazine Nitro Planes just posted this video compilation of crashes during flight tests. There are times where crashing is inevitable due to a wide variety of causes. We just so happened to catch some of them. Here are a few crashes from 2012. Source: YouTube
Unmanned aircraft systems will make a significant contribution in defending the huge gas reservoirs that have been discovered in the Mediterranean off the Israeli coast. A senior source says that operational assessments made in recent months have determined that UAS will play a "major role" in surveillance tasks
An unmanned aircraft shot down by F-16 jets in south Israel was apparently launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah, or perhaps even by the Iranians themselves. The Israeli Defence Force is looking into the possibility that the aircraft was supposed to photograph the Dimona reactor. A few hours after two
National Associations
On 2 October 2012, the creation of ASSORPAS (Associazione Italiana per I Light RPAS), the new Italian national association for Light RPAS (MTOM <150 kg), was formally announced. The founding members of ASSORPAS comprise 15 Italian companies, consisting of 6 system integrators/manufacturers, 6 RPAS operators, 3 sub-system/
Chengyu Cao sees a day in the not-so-distant future when intelligent robots will be working alongside humans on a wide range of important tasks from advancing science, to performing deep sea rescues, to monitoring our natural habitats. It’s a bold leap from the pre-programmed factory robots
Commercial
The Outback Rescue Challenge, a competition for developers of unmanned aircraft systems, was held at Kingaroy in Queensland from Monday to Wednesday. An unmanned aircraft was able to find a dummy of a missing bushwalker with no human intervention in what CSIRO believes is a world-first for a non-
VTOL
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Aurora Flight Sciences Sept. 28 to develop robotic rotorcraft capable of supporting rapid autonomous aerial cargo delivery to the battlefield. ONR is initially providing $28 million to the industry-led teams to develop prototype concepts in the Autonomous