Testing
A new milestone in the history of unmanned aircraft was made last week, as ‘Salty Dog 502′ the first drone designed to operate from US Navy carriers linked to a drogue of an Omega tanker off the coast of Maryland. The autonomous aerial refuelling (AAR) tests performed by the Unmanned
Military
The US Office of Naval Research is developing the Ground-Based Air Defense On-the-Move concept, or GBAD, which envisions a 30kW solid-state laser mounted to the roof of a Humvee, capable of felling UAS both small and large. The Humvee's mobility, coupled with the precision power and targeting capability
Testing
Applying aerospace technology and atmospheric research to fly a glider higher than any other manned aircraft has ever flown. In 2015/16 Perlan Mission II intends to set new altitude records by flying a purpose-built pressurised high-altitude glider (the Perlan 2) higher than any other manned wing borne aircraft has
Commercial
Portugal-based startup Quarkson has just announced a successful test flight of its SkyOrbiter LA25 platform. Quarkson founder and CEO Miguel Ângelo called the pressure-filled test a “success” and said it has brought the company closer to its objective, which is to use the platforms to “make available high speed, low
Testing
A test to prove an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be refuelled in flight could happen by the end of this month, according to officials with Naval Air Systems Command. The test would pair a Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) with a contracted tanker to
Testing
A new solar-electric aircraft has entered commercial production and is getting ready for its first delivery. Named the Silent Falcon, the UAS is produced by Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Silent Falcon UAS Technologies (SFUAS), a former subsidiary of Bye Aerospace, which specializes in alternative energies for aviation application that is also
Testing
Sysveo, a French company that builds drones, has received European Space Agency (ESA) support to develop a patent it purchased a few years back, which looks at interactive broadcasting of images.The company is working on software that would allow drones to include augmented reality 3D images in the videos
Commercial
Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook (where else?) on March 26th that the company had successfully completed its first test flight of its unmanned aircraft in the UK. The final design will have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car. It will be powered
Testing
In some remote parts of the world, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are already being field-tested for medical uses. Drones successfully delivered small aid packages after the Haitian earthquake in 2012, and in Papua New Guinea, Doctors Without Borders used them to transport dummy TB test samples from a remote village
Commercial
Swedish police are testing the use of drones, with a special emphasis on SWAT and possible search and rescue operations. It's unknown how many drones the police in Sweden plan to order, but they would be used in select cases, with testing beginning sometime this summer. Drones could
Testing
Testing of the pan-European nEUron unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator is due to move to Italy following the completion of French testing of the aircraft. Following 100 test flights by Dassault Aviation in France, during which the sensor, data-link and stealth characteristics of the demonstrator were tested, responsibility for the
Testing
China's largest mail company is set to deliver more than 1,000 packages a day by drone. S.F. Express has revealed it already has a fleet of aircraft flying 500 parcels a day to remote areas, and it is now looking to double the capacity. The all-weather