VTOL
The Airbus Helicopters VSR700 demonstrator took off for a fully unmanned autonomous flight at the military airbase in Istres in the south of France. The purpose of the flight was to establish compliance with the demanding regulatory and safety systems necessary for future unmanned flight in France. During the exercise
C-UAS
LITEYE Systems Inc., on Friday December 14th delivered, on-time, the last unit of the first-round of C-AUDS (Containerized Anti-Unmanned Defense Systems), to Northrop Grumman Corporation. These systems will support their endeavours into the Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems market protecting critical infrastructure and lives in numerous deployments. Liteye Systems, a U.
News
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has posted a notice (PDF) in the Federal Register soliciting qualified candidates to serve on the Drone Advisory Committee(DAC). The committee provides an open venue for the FAA and stakeholders to identify and recommend consensus-based resolutions for issues related to integration of unmanned aircraft
Commercial
AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc. a provider of advanced drone imagery-based data collection and analytics solutions for the sustainable agriculture and precision farming markets, announced that it will extend the powerful reach and capabilities of its proprietary FarmLens platform to mobile devices with the launch of its new FarmLens mobile app.
First Responders
In November 2018 the Quantum Systems Trinity performed an 8km long BVLOS flight within the framework of the CopKa disaster control exercise north of Munich. It is particularly worth mentioning in this context that the flight took place in the no-fly zone of the Munich Airport beyond visual line of
C-UAS
Liteye Systems, Inc., in partnership with OpenWorks Engineering LTD., successfully demonstrated the SkyWall net-capture system against real-world UAS threats while attending the JIDO Hard Kill 2 event in the desert of the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, USA. The event demonstrated that SkyWall offers a reliable and cost effective,
Transport
FPT Industrial and Forvola broke the Guinness World Records for the heaviest payload lifted by a drone during FPT Industrial’s Tech Day event in Turin, Italy, on November 23rd. Forvola’s megadrone, with its 16 propellers, lifted a box full of FPT Industrial spare parts weighing 101 kg to
Commercial
Royal Dutch Shell PLC is testing how artificial intelligence-enabled drones could help prevent costly maintenance problems on expensive equipment while improving worker safety, said Jay Crotts, the oil company’s executive vice president and global chief information officer. Beginning early next year, the company will deploy several drones in a
News
In the development of the parachute rescue systems of Drone Rescue Systems GmbH, the main focus was on the reliable, autonomous crash detection. A potential operation Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) should be possible in case of emergency. This orientation also applied, as the first drone-specific parachute system was
VTOL
GIANT 1:6 scale Radio Controlled (RC) Lockheed SUPER CONSTELLATION TWA 'Star of America' AIRLINER Owned and built by Keith Mitchell, this model took 5 years of combined design and construction. Its initial flights were taken under the Large Model Association scheme (approved by the CAA) for model
Commercial
Passengers at one of the UK's busiest airports are experiencing further flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield. Gatwick's runway remains closed after two of the devices were seen nearby, sparking a string of delays and diversions on Wednesday evening. Outbound flights were grounded
Military
Russia's Carnivora, a new counterdrone robot, is built to hunt small airborne pray. Announced on Dec. 13, 2018, the robot is produced by Russia’s Mikran and has a stated mission to devour the competition. “This drone has a very colourful name: ‘Carnivora.’ It was obviously selected due