Military
Denmark has issued a tender for the selection of a mini unmanned air system, with the nation's defence ministry seeking responses only from bidders with systems in operational service. The tender has been issued to US manufacturer AeroVironment and Israel's Elbit Systems, sources have revealed. Candidate
News
Textron Defense Systems announced that its BattleHawk Squad-Level Loitering Munition completed a successful demonstration for the U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in Socorro, N.M. Amid the rugged terrain of south-central New Mexico, the range offered an operationally realistic
National Associations
On 23 & 24 May 2012, the kick-off meeting of the new EUROCAE Working Group 93 on Light RPAS took place at EUROCONTROL headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was attended by 56 regulatory and industry representatives, as well as representative from the European Commission Directorate General Enterprise & Industry.
News
A disagreement between Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israeli Air Force over the cause of a Heron TP ("Eitan") unmanned aircraft crash on 29 January has resulted in the type remaining grounded. A joint investigation into the incident will be completed soon, and a senior IAI source says
Data Links & Communications
AeroVironment is to employ its small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to demonstrate aerial communications capabilities for the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC is examining the ability to re-establish communications rapidly using aerial platform technology following a natural or man-made disaster that renders existing communications networks unusable through a
Military
Insitu announced that its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system has exceeded 600,000 combat flight hours, maintaining a 99 percent mission-readiness rate. “We are honoured to provide our global customers with more than 600,000 combat flight hours,” said Insitu President and CEO Steve Morrow. “We recognize that the experience of
News
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it has received a contract modification effective March 20, 2012 from the U.S. Army Close Combat Weapons Systems (CCWS), Program Executive Office Missiles and Space (PEO MS). The $5,108,160 modification to the existing contract includes engineering services, operational Switchblade systems and operator training.
Military
Last weekend, when NATO leaders met in Chicago, they unveiled a series of new projects, among them, apparently, a programme to develop and expand the use of unmanned aircraft to confront the security threats of the future and make better use of tighter budgets. Used first for surveillance, and increasingly
Military
Talks between Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago failed to make any progress on the sale of armed UAS to Turkey. Turkey seeks to buy armed unmanned aircraft from the United States, but the request has turned
News
The United States continues to pay "very careful attention" to China's growing cyberspace capabilities, said Dave Helvey, acting Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for East Asia. "There is the potential for these types of operations to be very disruptive" to the United States and its
Military
The United States has agreed to sell unarmed unmanned surveillance aircraft to Iraq's navy as part of an effort to help protect that nation's oil exports amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf and to strengthen U.S.-Iraqi ties. "They understand the importance of
Commercial
A mystery object, thought to be a military or law enforcement drone, flying in controlled airspace over Denver had a near miss with a commercial jet last week. The pilot of the Cessna jet radioed air traffic controllers to warn them that “A remote controlled aircraft” had flown past his