Testing
Euro Hawk, the premier Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Aircraft System for the German Armed Forces, was presented yesterday to government officials and media during a rollout ceremony held in Manching, Germany. The UAS arrived on 21 July 2011 following a nonstop ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base in California
Military
The US Navy/Northrop Grumman Corporation X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration aircraft reached a major milestone on September 30 when it retracted its landing gear and flew in its cruise configuration for the first time. The flight, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, also helped validate precision navigation hardware
Testing
AME Unmanned Air Systems announced that its Fury 1500 Special Mission UAS has completed a 14-hour flight. This new version of the Fury was developed at AME’s UAS facility in San Luis Obispo, California and is operated and controlled by AME’s UAS Mission Management software, SharkFin. The 14.
Testing
Insitu Inc. announced that its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS) delivered real-time video to Canadian Forces during the largest military exercise to date in the Far North. Operation Nanook brought together Canadian Forces, its security partners and numerous federal, territorial and municipal governments to conduct sovereignty operations andsecurity exercises in
VTOL
SKIVE Aviation was on hand to film the flight demonstrations at the recent international UAV-g 2011 Conference organised by ETH Zurich at Birrfeld Airfield in Switzerland. The company has spent a lot of time and effort in optimising their system and has introduced a new development of roll stabilization, which
Military
The US Marine Corps is taking the use of unmanned air systems to the next level, deploying pilotless cargo helicopters to Afghanistan to test their ability to supply troops in the field without trucks facing the risk of deadly IEDs.The six-month demonstration of the feasibility of a cargo UAS
Testing
Finmeccanica announced that the final demonstration of the SMAT F1 project (advanced land monitoring system, phase 1) was conducted successfully on Friday 30 September with aircraft flying over Levaldigi (CN), Benevagienna (CN) and Turin. The project simulated a joint land-monitoring mission for civil purposes, based on three unmanned systems operating
Testing
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has announced its successful participation in the recent US Navy Experiment Trident Warrior 2011 (TW11) off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Employing ships, aircraft, and land vehicles, TW11 is the Navy’s primary FORCEnet Sea Trial experiment series designed to evaluate emerging technologies and
Testing
The Chinese Xianglong ‘Soaring Dragon’ was recently seen at Chengdu seemingly prepared for a first test flight. The Soaring Dragon uses an innovative ‘joined wing’ design, employing a conventional swept wing joined with a forward swept wing. A model depicting this configuration was shown at the Zuhai China Airshow 2006.
Testing
Northrop Grumman just posted this two minute video review of recent flight test activities for US Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration aircraft at Edwards AFB, California. The two aircraft will be moved from Edwards to the US Navy’s test centre at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
Propulsion
A US Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout conducts the first unmanned biofuel flight at Webster Field in St. Inigoes, Maryland. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Directorate piloted the helicopter fueled with a combination of JP-5 aviation fuel and plant-based camelina. The biofuel blend reduces carbon dioxide output by 75 percent when
Testing
New Mexico State University on September 30 announced that its Physical Science Laboratory is partnering with the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in developing and testing DARPA's Vulture unmanned aircraft programme.The Vulture II Programme, a joint venture between DARPA and Boeing, is centered around a