Testing
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) participated in U.S. Pacific Fleet’s (PACFLT) Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem ‘21 (UxS IBP 21), April 21-26, 2021. The UxS IBP 21 integrated manned and unmanned capabilities into the most challenging operational scenarios to generate war fighting advantages. The exercise aimed to directly
Military
A Vanilla ultra endurance land-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) participated in U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) 21 at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu. The VA001 Vanilla is long-endurance aircraft (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) designed and built by Vanilla Aircraft for military forces
Military
Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully completed the first flight of Japan’s RQ-4B Global Hawk on April 15, 2021 from Palmdale, California. With an unmatched combination of range, endurance, and payload capability, Global Hawk is the only platform that provides greater data collection flexibility than space or medium-altitude assets. “The unarmed
Testing
A team from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is researching and developing an unmanned, solar-powered stratospheric aircraft for future scientific experiments that combines the advantages of spaceflight and aeronautics. DLR researchers have named their technology carrier HAP alpha. "HAP stands for 'High-Altitude
Military
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory engineers recently demonstrated Hybrid Tiger, an electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with multi-day endurance flight capability, at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. The team integrated technologies developed in prior NRL power and energy programs into a single UAV to achieve multi-day endurance with a Group 2
Transport
Xwing, a San Francisco startup developing technologies for self-flying aircraft, announced that it has completed what it called the world’s first fully autonomous demonstration flight of a commercial cargo aircraft from gate to gate. The Cessna Grand Caravan 208 pulled away from Xwing’s hangar in Concord, California, taxied,
Testing
A few weeks ago, the Airbus VSR700 demonstrator achieved a test flight that pushed its speed limit to 60 kts (more than 110km/h), entirely opening its flight envelope at low speed. At the end of the test, the demonstrator had accumulated more than 10 flight hours. Thanks to this
Testing
Insitu Pacific and Boeing Australia’s Detect and Avoid (DAA) capability is now ready to field in real-world operations after test flights demonstrated enhanced detection ranges between an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and other airspace users. The technology is designed to advance the ability to safely integrate UAS into different
UAM/UTM
Metro Hop has the green light from the United States Air Force Agility Prime program to test its patent pending Active Landing Gear. This unique landing gear allows Metro Hop’s all-electric, short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft to fly up to 250 mph with substantial payloads, while operating nearly
OPA
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Firebird multi-sensor aircraft showcased the versatility of the optionally-manned autonomous system as it flew to various locations across the United States last month. The ability of Firebird to be flown manned through national airspace is a demonstration of its unique operational flexibility for self-deployment and its
Swarms
A Chinese company recently conducted a test flight for its newly developed airborne swarm carrier, which is an unmanned aerial mother ship that can carry multiple smaller drones and release them in the air for missions like reconnaissance and attack. This approach could revolutionize future warfare, and when the mother
Military
The US Air Force Research Laboratory successfully completed the XQ-58A Valkyrie’s sixth flight test and first release from its internal weapons bay, March 26, 2021 at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. This test, conducted in partnership with Kratos UAS and Area-I, demonstrated the ability to launch an ALTIUS-600 small, unmanned