Military
Cassidian has suggested an alternative funding proposal to France, Germany and Spain for its Talarion unmanned air system. Budget approval for an estimated €3 billion ($4.2 billion) for development and production is two years behind schedule. Cuts in defence spending among European governments mean that getting a green light
Military
Boeing’s unmanned hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye HALE demonstrator aircraft has arrived at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Centre for assembly and preparations for flight tests. NASA Dryden is hosting the Boeing flight test operation, providing hangar facilities, engineering, ground test and test range support for the project. The aircraft is
Military
The US Naval Air Systems Command has posted a Broad Agency Announcement seeking proposals which conceptually demonstrate that a UCLASS system can provide a persistent Carrier Vessel-Nuclear (CVN) based Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and strike capability supporting carrier air wing operations in the 2018 timeframe. In order to identify
Military
The U.S. Army will use a General Atomics’ MQ-1C Gray Eagle this spring to flight-test a new system of multiple sensors that can be controlled by ground troops or aircraft crews. The Triclops system adds a sensor under each wing to the fuselage sensor carried by UAS. If Triclops
Military
The Colombian military began using U.S.-supplied ScanEagle UAS for counterterrorism and counter-narcotics operations in 2006, according to a classified State Department cable released last week by WikiLeaks. According to the December 2006 cable from then-U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William B. Wood, the aircraft initially were to be
Military
The US Navy’s Fleet and Industrial Supply Centre, Norfolk, Philadelphia Office wants to lease two UAS to “replicate a likely threat in visual, aural, and most importantly IR and RCS signatures at a series of training events”. The first event will take place in June 2011 on San Clemente
Military
US Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon news briefing that once the bombing and missile campaign ends in Libya, unmanned Global Hawk aircraft will conduct a bomb damage assessment. The USAF also confirms that a Global Hawk flew in support of no-fly-zone
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
Data Links & Communications
AAI Corporation has won a $12.6 million contract from the US Army Contracting command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to install Tactical Common Data Link equipment on two Shadow UAS. The TCDL is a secure data link designed to send encrypted data and streaming video to ground stations at high
Military
Lebanese officials have complained that two Israeli UAS have penetrated Lebanese airspace and flown over the southern part of the country in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. An Israeli unmanned aircraft crossed into Lebanese airspace over the village of al-Naqoura, located 91 kilometres (57 miles) south of the
Business
BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the design, development, production and support of a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system for the UK and French defence ministries. The two companies will prepare and submit a joint
Military
The US Navy has outlined a new timeline for buying services provided by a fleet of unmanned aircraft systems worth up to $874 million. The close-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) contract would replace the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle with a ship-based, small UAS that would keep track of vessels within