Business
The average cost for one of Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk has risen more than 25 percent because the U.S. Air Force cut the order by about 14 percent in its 2012 budget request. After reviewing the $11.1 billion Global Hawk programme last year, the Air Force said
Launchers
A ScanEagle launches from the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD 45). Scan Eagle is a runway independent, long-endurance, unmanned aerial vehicle system designed to provide multiple surveillance, reconnaissance data, and battlefield damage assessment missions. Comstock is part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group
Commercial
Tokyo Electric Power is putting remote controlled machinery to use at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This video was shot by one of the Hélipse unmanned helicopters on Sunday and shows the plant's number four reactor building.
Military
Gray Eagle operators of QRC-1-R1 Camp Taji, Iraq recently demonstrated firing six Hellfire missiles into the abandoned hulks of light military tactical vehicles positioned at Shadow Range in western Iraq. A Shadow from the 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division out of Al-Asad was flying
Testing
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Relative Navigation system exceeded accuracy requirements during recent flight tests for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Automated Aerial Refuelling (AAR) programme. The tests were conducted in collaboration with the Air Force Flight Test Center's Test Operations Combined Test Force,
Business
Embraer Defense and Security and AEL Sistemas, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd announced in LAAD 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, the signature of a strategic agreement envisaging the evaluation of joint exploration of UAS, including the potential creation of a company with majority participation of Embraer Defense and Security
Business
Z Microsystems, a leading provider of mission-ready computing systems, announced that it has acquired the intellectual property and product development team of Enhanced Video Devices (EVD), a developer of image enhancement technology. With this acquisition, Z Microsystems gains vital intellectual property and engineering talent in video image enhancement and
Military
India’s Defence Research and Development Organization told the Times of India recently that the aim of the secretive AURA (autonomous unmanned research aircraft) programme is to develop a UCAV for the Indian Air Force in seven to eight years. "With Rs 50 crore ($11 M) as seed money,
Military
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it received a firm-fixed-price contract order valued at $14,773,816 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises digital Raven small UAS retrofit kits. Work is scheduled to be completed by December 2011. The Raven unmanned aircraft is a
Testing
Indra’s Pelican rotary wing UAS has received the Special Airworthiness Certificate (CAEE) by the Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency, a body within the Ministry of Public Works, to perform integration, test and demo flights. The certificate, first awarded in Spain for rotary wing UAS, implies that the Pelican system
Military
Boeing was awarded on April 8 a $12,355,455 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for additional Mid-Wave Infrared UAS intelligence reconnaissance surveillance services in for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Work is expected to be completed
Research
A multidisciplinary university research initiative (MURI) led by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Associate Professor, Russ Tedrake, will bring together a diverse group of researchers to develop a bird-sized UAS, thanks to an Office of Naval Research Grant. The vehicle will be capable of navigating both