A forthcoming drone made by Autel, a Chinese electronics manufacturer and drone-maker, is being marketed using images of the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a payload of what appears to be explosive shells. The images were discovered just two months after the company condemned the military use of its flying robots.
Business
Turkish drone magnate Baykar became the export champion in Turkey with $1.76 billion in exports, as the country strives to nationalize and further develop its defense sector. Domestically-produced Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akıncı drones accounted for 32% of all defense industry exports in the country in 2023, according to
C-UAS
Suspicious unidentified drones have been regularly spotted over German military training grounds for more than a year, particularly where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained, German newspaper Bild reported. The problem was acknowledged by State Secretary of the German Defense Minister Nils Hilmer, who said in a speech to members of
C-UAS
South Korean aerospace and defense maker Hanwha Systems Co. is set to establish a military system to cope with small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones from the North while planning to develop various models of the system for exports. The unit of the country’s defense-to-chemical conglomerate Hanwha Group
Agriculture
The city of Rio de Janeiro is taking innovative steps to combat the effects of recent heatwaves and accelerate the recovery of degraded urban green spaces. In a groundbreaking pilot project, French startup Morfo’s drones will be utilized to reforest hard-to-reach areas, specifically targeting Floresta da Posse in Campo
Testing
On Dec. 5, 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. completed a major milestone with the full-scale fatigue testing of an MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). The team completed the “first lifetime” of fatigue testing – which is equivalent to 40,000 operating hours – and represents an important step in validating the
Transport
Ziyan, a Chinese-based startup, is stepping into 2024 with the launch of its latest innovation, the Grey Whale G1, a next-generation cargo unmanned helicopter. The Grey Whale G1 is tailored for transporting payloads across diverse terrains, from islands to high-altitude mountainous regions, promising users enhanced efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and heightened safety
Business
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded a $14,305,018 modification (P00010) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0001923C0002). This modification exercises options and increases the ceiling to provide engineering support, cyber security activities and capabilities, integrated logistics support, material and training services support, software sustainment, and
Testing
The Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Project Management Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Special Operations Command, executed a successful flight demonstration involving the first launch of the Air-Launched, Tube-Integrated Unmanned System (Altius) 700 air vehicle at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The event marks a significant milestone in the Army’s Launched
Testing
Taiwan reached another defense milestone after the domestically developed Teng Yun 2 drone stayed airborne for more than 20 hours during its most recent test flight. The drone broke its first record in June last year when it flew for 10 hours straight, following the entire perimeter of Taiwan’s
Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, has begun manufacturing work on a new X-plane for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program. This latest phase follows the successful completion of the critical design review (CDR) for the experimental aircraft, designated
Events
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected prototypes of farming drones and other agricultural machinery at an expo in Pyongyang on Tuesday, according to state media, calling for a review of the industry’s production capacity. The inspection reflected an ongoing push to increase domestic production of farm machinery amid