Testing
The Center for Remote Integration in Montana hosted a flight demonstration of the Sandstorm UAS on a remote airstrip south of Columbia Falls on Tuesday. This was the second flight demonstration of the aircraft, after that in Oklahoma in August. About 45 people were on hand to witness the flight,
Propulsion
At the end of October 2011, Thomas Senkel of e-volo made the first manned flight with an e-powered multicopter at an airstrip in the southwest of Germany. The flight lasted one minute and 30 seconds, after which the constructor and test pilot stated: "The flight characteristics are good natured.
Testing
Turkish Aerospace Industries' (TAI) has announced that its Anka prototype completed its fifth flight on 22 October, "marking the beginning of the envelope expansion process". This will demonstrate the aircraft's performance at various altitudes, speeds and weights. First flown on 30 December 2010, the Anka
Testing
Thales and DCNS are planning supplementary technology demonstrations of a system for automatic ship deck landing of unmanned aircraft. The decision is the result of a go-ahead from the DGA (French Defence Procurement Authority) -- a follow-on from the successful landing and deck-landing trials conducted in the United States last
Testing
Researchers from Naval Air Systems Command, Eglin Air Force Base, and engineering company Navmar Applied Science Corporation are developing a weapons system for small unmanned aircraft. The petite, 13-foot MicroUAV Tigershark, already used for surveillance and reconnaissance, will be outfitted with an even smaller drone — developed by Air Force researchers
Testing
Battelle's anti-icing technology deploys carbon nanotubes into the plane's coating, which means it is lighter than traditional ice protection systems and can use much less power. It's applied using simple painting methods, so it can be sprayed on a variety of curved surfaces. The
Testing
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi announced that the first airborne science missions using unmanned aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico were successfully completed during the week of October 10-17. Scientists with the Unmanned Aerial Systems Initiative at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and representatives from American Aerospace Airborne
Research
We first came across the ‘Unmanned Flying Ball from Japan” earlier this year in June. Now the Japanese Ministry of Defence Research Department has made an official launch at the Digital Content Expo in Tokyo last week. Fumiyuki Sato, Technical Official at TRDI, Ministry of Defence presented the machine to
Testing
IAI's Panther tiltrotor unmanned aircraft system is currently performing automatic take-off and landing tests, and in early 2012 will demonstrate its capabilities to potential customers. An Israel Aerospace Industries source said the company's development team has managed to solve problems with the transition between hovering and
Testing
Orbiter The two Israeli companies still contesting the Finnish armed forces' competition to select an unmanned aircraft system face two more rounds of evaluation. One will be held in Finland and the other in Israel within the coming weeks. Finnish evaluators will use the phase in Israel to learn
Testing
L-3 Unmanned Systems of Dallas has completed a series of capability enhancements to its Viking 400 unmanned aircraft system supplied to the US Special Operations Command under a 2009 contract. Added under the Block 1A upgrade are a new electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret and digital datalink. The MX-10
Research
A small hobby-type radio-controlled model aircraft is being transformed into a high-tech flight research aircraft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and will be used to develop such a ’sense-and-avoid’ application for smart phones. The aircraft, dubbed DROID for Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone, is the newest – and