Military
The UK’s BAE Systems Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator will carry out a third phase of flight tests towards the end of the year, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. The test programme had gone quiet after two phases of testing in Woomera in Australia, but it
Transport
Singapore Post has announced the success of a mail and packet drone delivery trial which took place between Lorong Halus and Pulau Ubin in Singapore. The drone was built using the Pixhawk Steadidrone platform developed by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) Labs. The test flight which took five minutes
Military
DARPA’s Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS) research effort recently demonstrated a prototype of a low-cost, fully automated parafoil system designed to extend maritime vessels’ long-distance communications and improve their domain awareness. Towed behind boats or ships, TALONS could carry intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications payloads of up
Business
Aeronautics Defense Systems' Dominator XP unmanned air vehicle has completed a successful first series of flights in Mexico. Based on Diamond Aircraft's DA42 general aviation aircraft, the medium-altitude, long-endurance surveillance system was sold to the Mexican government via local marketing company Balam Security. Speaking on 29 September,
Military
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has introduced a new sonobuoy capability for its MQ-9 Guardian maritime unmanned air vehicle which, alongside a number of other developing technologies, could make it a contender to help fill the UK’s maritime patrol gap. A concept was presented at the Royal Navy’s
Testing
Under the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (DSTL) three-year Autonomous Systems Underpinning Research (ASUR) programme, which aims to develop key technologies for unmanned systems, Plextek is developing sense-and-avoid, communications and camouflage systems that are compact and power-efficient enough to be used on small UAVs. The nature of urban environments
Testing
A team at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, has succeeded in launching 50 drones that were all controlled by a single person. “To our knowledge, this is a world record for the number of UAVs under single operator control, by quite a long way,” says project lead Kevin
Commercial
Evolving technologies necessary for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to safely avoid other aircraft while moving through the nation's skies recently were put to the test using NASA's remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft. Equipped with a prototype system of Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) sensors working in concert with airborne and
VTOL
The MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter has made an 11-hour, long-range flight. During an endurance demonstration from Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, the Fire Scout flew 150 miles and 11 hours on a planned 10-hour flight, and still had an hour's fuel in reserve, according to a
Testing
Helicopters are incredibly manoeuvrable in the air, but during landing and takeoff their traditional skid- and wheel-based landing gear requires stable, flat surfaces—surfaces that are often unavailable in helicopter-needy environs such as forward operating areas, ships at sea and natural-disaster zones. Having the ability to land on and take
Testing
Big IT companies have largely been mum on plans to use drones, but emerging technology from Bay-area startup PreNav appears to have at least intrigued wireless service providers and cell phone tower operators.
Military
Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland has announced that it has completed the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial System (RWUAS) Capability Concept Demonstration (CCD) contract it was awarded in 2013, including 27 hours of demonstration flying and 22 automatic simulated deck landings using its SW-4 RUAS Solo technology demonstrator.