The Subcommittee on Aviation, chaired by U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) held a hearing to review the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a critical part of transportation infrastructure. GPS is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that provides position and timing information at any place on the globe
Data Links & Communications
The US Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a $47.2 million contract for the purchase and integration of two more Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) payloads on two existing Block 20 Global Hawk aircraft. BACN is a high-altitude, airborne communications and information gateway system that maintains constant
Events
ICAUV 2012, the International Conference On Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles being held on 24 & 25 February 2011 at Eagleton The Golf Resort Bangalore, India is now totally sold out. The event has a capacity of 500 delegates, which has been rapidly attained, and the organisers regret that they are now
Commercial
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute and Korean Air have signed an agreement to develop the world’s first small-scale unmanned tilt-rotor aircraft by 2013. The envisioned aircraft, called “TR-6X,” will be about 60 percent the size of the first unmanned aircraft unveiled in November by the state-
Business
Chinese airframe manufacturer AVIC is investing yuan (CNY) 20 million ($3.2 million) in the U8 unmanned helicopter programme, which is being designed for civilian use. The investment is being made through Jingdezhen Helicopter, said AVIC in a Hong Kong stock exchange statement. AVIC owns almost 54.7% of the
Training
Holloman Air Force Base is the primary training base for some of the newest aircraft in the military. The MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper at Holloman represent advances in technology and one of the newest career fields in the US Air Force. "My unmanned aircraft can go
The US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has submitted several suggestions that would mitigate the impact of a proposed restricted airspace reserved for unmanned aircraft in North Dakota, but remains opposed to the creation of such an exclusive airspace. The Association maintains that implementation of the proposed restricted areas would
Business
Raytheon was awarded a $76.6 million cost-plus-incentive-fee cost reimbursement contract to develop, design, build, test, integrate, certify and deliver four dismount detection radar systems (DDRS). The DDRS will be capable of finding, tracking, and identifying vehicles and infantry. The system will interface with the Air Force
Testing
Two Emirati students at Dubai Men's College have built one of UAE's first home-grown unmanned aircraft. Khalil Al Beloushi, 37, is living proof that it is never too late to build a better future. Having dropped out of secondary school to take up government employment,
Testing
Israel Aerospace Industries' Heron was recently demonstrated successfully and according to the plan, this time in Greece, as part of a demonstration held by the European Union agency, Frontex. During the demonstration a number of IAI payloads were employed successfully to detect potential targets, for monitoring anti-smuggling and
Commercial
Unmanned aircraft are currently being tried out in vineyards in the south of France, to check that "grubbing up" of vines is done legally and ecologically. Wine-growers get as much as 10,000 euros ($13,000; £8,300) per hectare in subsidies for digging up uncompetitive vines
Military
UVision Air Ltd. has unveiled the Blade Arrow Precision Attack Munition (PAM) five years after it was first demonstrated. The PAM concept brings new offensive capabilities for precision strike of high-value and time- sensitive targets, in complex terrain and urban background. UVision’s Blade Arrow provides long range, highly