Military
For the first time, Iran has admitted using its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack rebel opponents of its ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, in operations around the Syrian capital of Damascus and also in Iraq. Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic
News
On a clear March day last year, Chris Anderson led FORBES onto the outdoor deck at 3D Robotics’ Berkeley, Calif. headquarters to discuss the future of flying robots. As the CEO of North America’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, Anderson, former editor-in-chief at Wired and author of New York Timesbestseller
C-UAS
The commander of U.S. Army Europe said that, among other equipment, he wants anti-drone weapons to counter potential threats from Russia. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said he would welcome any number of systems to do the job, from newer non-kinetic technologies to older, Cold War-era equipment such as the
News
Nouvelle-Aquitaine was the first region in France convinced of the potential of a drone sector, creating the AETOS cluster in 2010. Within a few years thanks to collaboration between public authorities, innovative start-ups and SMEs, industrial players and universities, new solutions have been proposed in this fast-growing sector, with countless
Military
South African company Ultimate Unmanned has launched its new Viper 1000C unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is based on a Stemme motor glider. The company said the idea is to lease the platform and sell air time for missions such as surveillance, border patrol, anti-piracy, pipeline monitoring, counter-terrorism, mapping, anti-smuggling,
Business
Trimble has announced today that Delair-Tech has acquired its Belgium-based Gatewing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) engineering and manufacturing business. Delair-Tech is a leading provider of long-range, fixed-wing UAS solutions for industrial inspection and asset management applications headquartered in Toulouse, France. Delair-Tech intends to grow the acquired business as part of
Military
The US Navy (USN) has awarded Bell Helicopter a USD3.3 million contract to investigate the potential for future flight strain, fatigue, and tail boom cracking on the Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The contract, which was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on
Weapons Systems
The UK Royal Air Force remains confident that it will introduce British-made weapons onto its future Protector unmanned air vehicle, although a final decision on this element of the programme has yet to be made. It plans to integrate the Raytheon Paveway IV laser-guided bomb and MBDA Brimstone air-to-surface missile
Control Stations
Drone Aviation, a manufacturer of tethered drones and lighter-than-air aerostats, has been awarded a patent (US Patent 9,446,858) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Electric Tethered Aerial Platform (ETAP) technologies as currently utilized in its WATT and BOLT tethered drone products. “As drone adoption
Military
General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business has received a potential one-year, $44 million contract to perform risk reduction efforts for theU.S. Navy’s MQ-25 unmanned carrier aerial system program. The contractor will develop trade space and refine concepts in support of requirements generation prior to the program’s engineering and
Military
More than 40 nations have joined the U.S. in a joint declaration aimed at controlling exports of armed or weapons-capable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Major UAV-producing nations such as Israel, Russia, China and India are not among signatories to the declaration of broad principles, which is a precursor to
Military
After unveiling its new unmanned tiltrotor aircraft earlier this month, the V-247 Vigilant, Bell Helicopter isn’t sinking additional internal funds into the platform until a later design effort. Bell has not formally pitched Vigilant, a single-engined 13,100kg (29,000lb) system that leverages autonomous control capabilities from Bell'