Propulsion
The US Navy is showing interest in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Vulture solar-powered, ultra-endurance unmanned aircraft as a means of providing communications to carrier strike groups if satellites are knocked out. The Vulture programme is developing technology for an unmanned aircraft able to stay aloft
Business
The Korean Government may abandon a plan to buy Global Hawks because their price is way higher than the budget. The government and military have aggressively pushed to buy the Global Hawk since 2005 to build up South Korea's own reconnaissance capabilities in preparation for the handover of
Testing
The Boeing QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target programme in August became the first target programme to conduct software tests in a systems integration lab (SIL) environment. The programme demonstrated key capabilities for the U.S. Air Force during a programme review and tour. Boeing supplier partner BAE Systems conducted
Military
AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., was awarded a $118,792,331 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to procure 19 Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) pool configuration kits; four TCDL regular configuration kits; 14 sets of mobile maintenance facility spares; and
Propulsion
Boeing is looking to fly its company-funded Phantom Eye hydrogen-fuelled, long-endurance unmanned aircraft in late October or early November at Edwards Air Force Base, California.The twin-engine, 150-ft.-wingspan demonstrator is due to be rolled out onto the dry lakebed at Edwards this weekend for
Testing
According to Daryl Davis, chief of Boeing’s Phantom Works division, Boeing’s Phantom Ray is being put into storage, now that it’s successfully completed its test flights. The company is going to keep the aircraft in flyable condition with the hopes of dusting it off to contribute to
Business
AeroVironment, Inc. announced yesterday that it received a $6,874,175 firm-fixed-price order from the US Air Force under an existing contract with the US Army. The order comprises new digital Raven small unmanned aircraft systems and initial spares packages. The systems and spares packages are scheduled for
Accidents
An American surveillance UAS apparently has crashed in the Somali port town of Kismayo, about 500 kilometers south of Mogadishu,which is controlled by the militant group al-Shabab.Witnesses in Kismayo said that the unmanned aircraft crashed on Sunday near the airport of the southern Somali city. An al-
Military
A US Air Force Block 10 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, built by Northrop Grumman, completed its last mission in late May. The last Block 10 to fly as an Air Force aircraft was the one with the most flight hours, more than 7,650 with more than 7,000 of
Events
Iran recently mounted the Div-e-Sepid competition, in which competitors from up to 65 teams square off by racing their homemade unmanned aircraft around Mount Damavand, Iran’s highest mountain peak. The UAS, equipped with small cameras, fly over patches of land and sea looking to see who can
Testing
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) recently selected Aurora Flight Sciences for the Manufacturing Technologies for Remotely Piloted Vehicles (MaTeR) programme. Over the next eighty-four months, Aurora will develop and improve manufacturing processes for all aspects of Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft, which include both the airborne and ground components.
Inexpensive and easy to use MAVs, developed by Severin Leven and Swiss-based Sensefly, are shown here to be able to flock in formations up to ten aircraft. The project, presented by Sabine Hauert from EPFL's Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, will be shown at the IROS 2011, the