Military
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) announced that its Predator-series family of aircraft, including MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and MQ-1C Gray Eagle, has achieved a historic industry milestone: four million flight hours. The milestone was crossed on August 7th, with 291,331 total missions completed and 90% of all
Military
Under the RAPAZ Programme, the Spanish Ministry of Defence has signed a service contract with Spanish UAV manufacturer Unmanned Solutions (USOL) to assess operational capacities of USOL system ALCOTAN, a 3.5 kg fixed-wing UAV providing up to 1-hour autonomy and monitoring capabilities in visible and thermal spectrum.The contract
C-UAS
Airspace for the flying public today is perpetually congested yet remarkably safe, thanks in no small part to a well-established air traffic control system that tracks, guides and continuously monitors thousands of flights a day. When it comes to small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) such as commercial quadcopters, however, no
Military
The commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command met with Army Research Laboratory officials Sept. 8, 2016, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Acting ARL Director Dr. Philip Perconti briefed Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins about the lab’s science and technology initiatives on the general’
Military
BlueBird Aero Systems has integrated a high-definition surveillance sensor and a communications payload into two of its unmanned air vehicles – the SpyLite Mini and ThunderB small tactical system. The Israeli manufacturer says the integration has made it possible to enhance UAV operations by transferring long-range, high-resolution HD video in real
Military
The US Air Force has selected candidate bases for a potential new MQ-9 Reaper wing with units at up to two locations. For the first location, the Air Force identified Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Moody AFB, Georgia; Mountain Home AFB, Idaho; Offutt AFB, Nebraska; and Shaw AFB, South Carolina,
Business
Insitu Inc. is being awarded a $9,896,412 modification (0007) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-14-C-0070) to procure intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services using its unmanned aircraft system in support of the Navy.Work will be performed at locations outside the continental U.S., and is expected to
Business
There is little detail in the $1 million contract award posted on September 1st. The award, from the Army, but through the Pentagon’s brand-new tech-focused “Defense Innovation Unit Experimental” DIUx, is for a nine-month “prototype project in the area of Autonomous Tactical Airborne Drones.” Two other salient features stand
Events
The VR-Technologies Design Bureau, part of Russian Нelicopters JSC, has developed the unique tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle. The new RHV-35 unmanned convertible aircraft was unveiled at the international military and technical forum ARMY-2016. The new unmanned aerial vehicle looks like a drone from Terminator. A number of oil and gas
Testing
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced the United States Navy has successfully demonstrated the use of its submarine-launched Blackwing UAV to link with a swarm of unmanned undersea vehicles and communicate with the submarine combat control system during the Annual Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) on August 16. Along with providing a new
Military
The UK Ministry of Defence is to invest up to £3 million in this ‘Many drones make light work’ competition. The aim is to find technology solutions that show and evaluate the benefits of using drones for defence. The challenge is to operate swarms of more than 20 unmanned air
Business
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced that it is teaming with Australia-based XTEK, Sentient Vision and General Dynamics (GD) Mediaware to deliver AeroVironment’s Family of Unmanned Aircraft Systems to the Australian market. The team will offer the AeroVironment Wasp AE Micro Air Vehicle, designated as the RQ-12A by the U.S.