Business
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $17,868,222 undefinitized contract action for the France MQ‐9 Block 5 weaponization and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pod Integration effort. This contract provides for the weaponization of the French Air Force MQ‐9 Block 5 aircraft
News
The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to advance two bills related to drones, blocking purchases of them from certain countries and creating a position at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to counter associated threats. The “Drone Origin Security Enhancement Act” prohibits the DHS secretary from “operat[
Business
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $21,723,507 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract modification (P00003) to previously awarded FA8620-18-C-2009 for the United Kingdom MQ-9B Protector program. This contract modification provides for the design, development, integration and component level testing of additional capabilities being
News
The Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar announced that it delivered the second batch of Bayraktar TB2 armed unmanned aerial vehicles to the Ukrainian Air Force. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence announced that it completed the acceptance tests of the drones at its Starokostiantyniv Airbase. These tests covered the drones’ combat capabilities,
News
The first demonstration of long-range, free-space power beaming - a technology that enables energy to be transmitted using lasers - has been conducted at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Maryland. The system involves two 13-foot-high towers, one a 2-kilowatt laser transmitter, the other a receiver of specially
Business
Electric truck maker Workhorse Inc. is selling its Surefly flying car project to aerospace and defense contractor Moog Inc. for $4 million and forming a joint venture with Moog to boost its truck-based drone delivery efforts. Workhorse had been trying to sell the Surefly vertical-lift copter assets to raise money
News
Raytheon Company's Ground Based Detect and Avoid team received the Air Traffic Control Association's annual Team Award for outstanding achievement for its collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, academic partners, and federal, state, and local government agencies to integrate drones safely into the National Airspace
C-UAS
Raytheon Company delivered the first high-energy laser counter-unmanned aerial system to the U.S. Air Force earlier this month. The system will be deployed overseas as part of a year-long Air Force experiment to train operators and test the system's effectiveness in real-world conditions. Raytheon's high-energy
Events
The unmanned air taxi industry landed on the NBAA, with a host of vendors displaying mock-ups of designs they hope one day will be shuttling passengers throughout major cities. The vendors are showcasing products at the "UAS/UAM Innovation Display" on the exhibition floor – part of a broad
UAM/UTM
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) unveiled this week at its annual Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), a new report detailing the financial and economic business case for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and its benefits for business aviation users. The report, titled Business Aviation Embraces Electric Flight, How Urban
Business
Drone Delivery Canada Corp. has announced that with the assistance of its sales agent Air Canada, it has entered into a commercial agreement dated October 22, 2019 with DSV Air & Sea Inc. Canada, the Canadian arm of the global transport and logistics company DSV Panalpina A/S, to deploy
Electronic Systems
Trimble has introduced a compact, high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) board specifically designed for unmanned aerial systems (UAS)—the Trimble UAS1. The board's simple connectivity and configuration allow UAS system integrators to easily add satellite-based positioning—with the ability to upgrade its capabilities—using rugged connectors and