Commercial
MAVinci, based in Leimen near Heidelberg, Germany, has announced the introduction of SIRIUS II - a fully integrated orthofoto UAS. The system obtains aerial images and calculates orthofotos and three dimensional elevation models out of the image data. An orthofoto is a geometrically corrected aerial image such that the scale is
Commercial
Type in ‘drones’ on Google, and it won’t be long before you come across DIY Drones, the largest amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicle community on the web with 15,000 members, and the DIY Drones online store – “The Amateur UAV Superstore”. The site basically caters for the enthusiastic amateur who
Testing
Insitu Inc. announced that the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) Integrator completed its first Operational Assessment (OA-1), a critical milestone in the STUAS program execution. During OA-1, the STUAS Integrator system flew mission scenarios designed to assess operational suitability of the current Integrator UAS. The STUAS programme
Data Links & Communications
The Pentagon spends $500 million a year on commercial satellite communications to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Defense Information Systems Agency wants to cut those costs dramatically with a $440 million, 15-year lease of a single commercial satellite. DISA expects such a deal could meet 78 percent
Training
L-3 Communications has won a five-year contract under the U.S. Army’s STOC II contract for the U.S. Army’s Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) Post Deployment Software Support (PDSS) programme. L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) engineers will perform the work,
Military
Officials at U.S. Army Special Operations Command are developing tactics and plans for operating two companies worth of Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft, planned to come online beginning in 2013. “We’ve already recognized that we will need more personnel to conduct a Special Operations Force-specific task,” said Lt.
Military
AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems just announced that its Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS) have achieved in excess of 600,000 total flight hours. Approximately 90 percent of these hours were amassed in support of combat operations at locations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, fuelling an average of more than 100,
Propulsion
ADA Technologies, Inc. has received a $750,000 contract from the U.S. Air Force for research on an innovative nano-material-enabled power system for use in small to micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Specifically, ADA will create a high performance, cost effective and easy-to-manufacture lithium-ion battery
Electronic Sub-Systems
Goodrich Corporation’s ISR Systems’ Princeton team (formerly Sensors Unlimited, Inc.) has introduced the smallest SWaP (size weight and power) short wave infrared camera for unmanned vehicles. The 640 x 512 pixel (25µm pitch) camera weighs 120g (less than four and a half ounces) with the 23mm f/1.15
Electronic Sub-Systems
Mercury Computer Systems Inc. is now providing a SWaP-optimized hyper-spectral image processing and storage subsystem for use in multi-INT wide area surveillance equipment on UAS. The subsystem will locate individual adversaries and enemy tactical communications. The system’s design combines two configurations of Mercury’s PowerBlock 15
Military
US Naval Special Warfare Command this month will commission a new active-duty group that will concentrate the component’s UAS, underwater systems and robotic programmes and personnel under a single entity. The establishment of Naval Special Warfare Group 10 reflects the increasing importance of UAS in the elite forces.
Military
Israel Aerospace Industries has offered to sell Azerbaijan its Heron 1 and Searcher 2 unmanned aircraft systems as part of "comprehensive solutions" to answer the nation's defence needs. Made during a recent visit to Azerbaijan by an IAI delegation, the offer was prompted by the potential