Testing
IAI's Panther tiltrotor unmanned aircraft system is currently performing automatic take-off and landing tests, and in early 2012 will demonstrate its capabilities to potential customers. An Israel Aerospace Industries source said the company's development team has managed to solve problems with the transition between hovering
Business
Aurora Flight Sciences has been assigned a patent for a "system and method for the retrieval of a smaller unmanned aerial vehicle by a larger unmanned aerial vehicle." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system and method
Military
Orbiter AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems announced yesterday that it has delivered an Aerosonde Mark 4.7 Small Unmanned Aircraft System and an Orbiter Miniature Unmanned Aircraft System to the US Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC). The systems will support the five-year cooperative research and development
Testing
Orbiter The two Israeli companies still contesting the Finnish armed forces' competition to select an unmanned aircraft system face two more rounds of evaluation. One will be held in Finland and the other in Israel within the coming weeks. Finnish evaluators will use the phase in Israel to learn
Payloads
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated advanced sensor and network technologies for the protection of fixed locations, adapting the STARLite Small Tactical Radar developed for UAS. Over five days of integration and testing, Northrop Grumman and its teammates fused data from more than 10 systems to form a common operational
Commercial
Insitu Pacific is currently undertaking a marketing offensive to develop use of the ScanEagle for commercial purpose in the Asia Pacific region. At a recent media briefing in Brisbane, Insitu Pacific Managing Director Andrew Duggan explaned: "The biggest challenge we face in all the countries (in Asia Pacific) is
Payloads
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced that its Lynx Block 20 Multi-mode Radar will soon be deployed on three Sky Warrior Alpha UAS operating in Afghanistan following the award of $5.8 million contract on September 28. Featuring photographic-quality resolution, the radars are expected to enhance the situational
Military
Northrop Grumman believes that the contract award for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system is now on track to be completed in early November.Negotiations for six Northrop RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems have dragged on for a year past the original deadline of October 2010. Meanwhile,
Testing
L-3 Unmanned Systems of Dallas has completed a series of capability enhancements to its Viking 400 unmanned aircraft system supplied to the US Special Operations Command under a 2009 contract. Added under the Block 1A upgrade are a new electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret and digital datalink.
Events
Circino Flight Systems submitted a 3-year old video of its ‘Sentry’ Olecopter which tries to satisfy a number of problems with UAV's - combine VTOL performance with high speed in forward flight.A scaled down version (7 feet) of the airframe has been made, has been ground tested
Payloads
This article, written by Eric Kurman in PTB Magazine (Photonics Solutions for the Design Engineer), describes how the new BBAR coatings provide increased transmittance over the wide wavelength range that sapphire allows, permitting technological advances in optical system design. Sapphire optical windows are an excellent fit for the harsh environment
Research
There is growing interest in a US aviation force that could carry out precision surveillance and strike missions thousands of miles away. That capability would be particularly useful in the Pacific Rim where US bases are sited far from several hot spots. Connecting the airborne platforms—and the extremely important