Business
General Atomics expects the first sales of an unarmed export version of its Predator within months, seeing the Middle East and Latin America as particularly fertile markets. So far, almost all of the more than 500 aircraft sold by the firm have gone to the U.S. military, a handful
Business
Insitu Pacific, the Australia-based subsidiary of Insitu Inc., announced that it has extended and expanded its existing Australian Defence Force contract with the Australian Army to include the provision of ScanEagle UAS services for trials with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). ScanEagle will be installed on a number of
Events
At Farnborough Airshow, EADS Innovation Works is presenting the prototype of a portable UAS produced by Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technology, also known as 3D-printing. The plane with a wingspan of approximately. 1.5 meters has been designed by students from the University of Leeds. The small, portable UAS
Business
France’s imminent decisions on UAS procurement will have a disproportionate influence on future European unmanned aircraft programmes, and will likely determine whether Europe can catch up with Israel and the United States, whose industries currently dominate the sector. France’s leading role is coincidental, and is not justified by
Propulsion
Lockheed Martin and LaserMotive, Inc., recently demonstrated the capabilities of an innovative laser power system to extend the Stalker UAS flight time to more than 48 hours, representing an improvement of 2,400 percent. Stalker is a small, silent UAS used by Special Operations Forces since 2006 to perform intelligence,
Testing
Lockheed Martin has developed a small homing beacon the size of a hockey puck to help increase the accuracy of cargo drops by UAS. The beacon is small enough to easily fit in a Marine’s pack and could soon provide a novel way to call in quick, accurate resupply
Testing
Taranis, BAE’s unmanned combat air system technology demonstrator, has successfully completed a series of key tests on the way to commencing flight trials in 2013. The low observable (LO) platform recently completed radar cross section tests at BAE Systems’ Warton site and the initial analysis has indicated that the
On 27 June 2012, the kick-off meeting of the ULTRA (Unmanned Aerial Systems in European Airspace) Consortium took place at the premises of Indra in San Fernando, Madrid, Spain. Subsequent to a public tender, the ULTRA Consortium was awarded an 18 month contract by the European Commission under its
Business
Insitu Pacific, the Australia-based subsidiary of Insitu Inc., announced that it has signed a contract to deliver ScanEagle UAS to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) for comprehensive operational evaluation by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). The UAS will be operated by the JGSDF to assist in disaster
Events
Tekever’s AR4 Light Ray is the first fully autonomous UAS to be exhibited in an international Air Show, performing daily flights between July 9th and 13th at Farnborough. The AR4 Light Ray is a state-of-the-art mini UAS providing advanced capabilities for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and
Business
SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company, has announced a further export customer for its Falco Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System.This new sale brings the total number of nations who have purchased the Falco to four, while the worldwide operating fleet exceeds fifty aircraft. In another UAS development, SELEX Galileo has released
Testing
Insitu Inc. announced that the Insitu Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) system flew its Integrator Unmanned Aircraft System during a one-hour, 20-minute flight in eastern Oregon earlier this year. ICOMC2 is a core UAS control system that can be augmented with software plug-ins to