Testing
Israel Aerospace Industries has abandoned its programme of converting manned helicopters into unmanned aircraft. IAI had been helping Hindustan Aeronautics in India to convert an existing helicopter for unmanned operations. However in the absence of a defined budget by the Indian Government, it withdrew from the project. The company believes
Propulsion
Newcastle University engineers in the UK will help QinetiQ build a monster, record-breaking solar-powered plane under a project jointly funded by Boeing and the US Government. The unmanned SolarEagle aircraft fitted with solar panels will be able to stay in the air at an altitude of more than
In anticipation of a complete review of the conditions of integrating non-military UAS into the US civilian airspace (known as the National Airspace System in the US) the FAA has issued new interim guidelines for the operation of unmanned aircraft systems. Notice number N JO 7210.766 on Air
Data Links & Communications
A new white paper entitled "Wireless Data-link for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Requirements, Challenges and Design Ideas," has just been published by Dr. Raj Jain,Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis and Fred Templin of Boeing. The full paper can be seen here:
Data Links & Communications
The U.S. Army is beginning mission equipment upgrade modifications to its fleet of Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout aircraft to build a new, high-tech "F" model helicopter. The OH-58 is configured with Level 2 Manned-Unmanned teaming, or L2MUM - which means that the pilots
Data Links & Communications
Harris, a Pentagon contractor with experience in commercial broadcast video products, is currently developing an application for Apple's iPad and other tablets that that will act as a remote display for images and video captured by UAS. The applications from Harris rely on relatively inexpensive smart-phones and
Military
Project trials for Thales UK Watchkeeper tactical UAS will now begin in June, with the systems expected to be in service with British Army by February 2012. Thales UK’s Nick Miller told UAS VISION "Our building programme is ahead of schedule. The first 10 air vehicles and several
Commercial
Several Japanese TV stations (NTV above) have been showing footage of a Global Hawk taking off and flying over the N°1 Reactor at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. We know that the Guam-based aircarft has been helping with surveillance missions - what would be really interesting is to see what
Data Links & Communications
NASA Glenn Research Center has issued an RFI for potential sources and partners for the design and development of a Command and Control communication (C2) system prototype for unmanned aircraft. Even though both terrestrial and satellite based solutions are under consideration in the standards bodies, the focus of this effort
Commercial
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been flying Predator UAS over Mexico for two years, helping Mexican authorities track suspected drug traffickers. These flights, approved by Mexico but never announced by either country, predate occasional flights into Mexico by the U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk that
Testing
IBC Advanced Alloys announced that it has entered into a Development and Technical Services accord with the US Navy’s Tactical Multi-Mission Unmanned Aerial Systems Programme and the US Military’s Army Research Laboratory (ARL) based in Aberdeen, Maryland to assess the use of lightweight beryllium aluminium alloys in
Testing
Less than a month after the first flight of the U.S. Navy's X-47B UCAS-Demonstration aircraft, flight test engineers from Northrop Grumman and the Navy have successfully completed the aircraft's second and third flights. The flights, both conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, mark