Propulsion
Lockheed Martin's Intelligent Robotics Laboratories has spent the last five years developing an unmanned craft to replicate the motion of maple tree seeds, whirring softly to the ground like silent one-winged helicopters. The device, called the Samarai, is scheduled to make its public debut next week at the
Propulsion
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. was awarded a $13,473,894 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to supply an alternate heavy fuel engine kit upgrade for the Gray Eagle. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to upgrade a Block O Gray Eagle with an alternate heavy fuel engine
Propulsion
AeroVironment Inc filed a patent application for "A hydrogen fueled power-plant including an internal combustion engine that drives a motor-generator, and has a two-stage turbocharger, for an aircraft.” “A control system controls the operation of the motor-generator to maintain the engine at a speed selected based on controlling the
Propulsion
Boeing is currently testing a Ford Motor Co. turbo-charged 2.3 liter four-cylinder engines that has been modified to run on liquid hydrogen, two of which will eventually be fitted to the Phantom Eye. At this point in the testing process, Boeing engineers have attached the power plant and a
Electronic Sub-Systems
Goodrich Corporation and Currawong Engineering Pty Ltd. of Tasmania, Australia, have announced a joint distribution agreement for technology developed for small gasoline and heavy fuel UAS engines. Goodrich will become a worldwide distributor for the marketing, selling and integration of Currawong's high efficiency Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) technology
Propulsion
The propulsion system for an unmanned aircraft that takes off vertically like a Transformer Robot then shifts to horizontal flight mid-air were tested yesterday at the University of Maryland's Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel. The AD-150 aircraft, developed by American Dynamics Flight Systems, is one of the few
Propulsion
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will host a Proposers' Day Conference for the Great Horned Owl (GHO) Programme on August 15, 2011, in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the programme. The Conference will be held from 12:00 PM to 4:
Propulsion
Austrian firm IAT21 (the Austrian Innovative Aeronautical Technology Research Company) describes its free-floating UAS project D-Dalus as, "a totally new form of airborne auto-motion". It hovers and flies without wings or rotors. It uses four, mechanically-linked turbines to provide propulsion. They're all running at 2,200
Research
At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the
Propulsion
At the Intersolar Europe trade show, IABG - a European technology enterprise - and ACENTISS, the aircraft engineering company of the IABG group, have concluded an exclusive cooperation agreement with PC-Aero GmbH, the German electric aircraft developer and producer. The partners plan to jointly develop, produce and market electric-powered Unmanned
Propulsion
Israeli manufacturers are ramping up development of small, unmanned aircraft powered by electric motors and, in at least one case, a hydrogen fuel cell. The UAS are for tactical use and feature advanced payloads and data links, and cover a range of altitudes. Electric motors have been used on small
Propulsion
TMD Technologies has introduced two new microwave power modules (MPMs) designed specifically for use with military data-links on UAS. Developed from the company's existing range of MPMs for radar, EW and communications applications, the PTX8208 and PTX8209 cover the 7.9-8.4 GHz and 13.75-14.5 GHz