Research
NASA has just released this 360 degree video of the battery powered, 10-propeller GL-10 Greased Lightning in flight. This is the same video that they show on virtual reality headsets at some conferences. It can be viewed in 360 on many devices. Developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Greased
VTOL
Schiebel and the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), the Netherlands Coastguard and the Royal Netherlands Air Force conducted a series of at the airport of Den Helder in December 2015. The AIRICA (ATM Innovative RPAS Integration for Coastguard Applications) project marks a major step forward in the process of safe integration
Events
A Swiss aerial robotics startup is developing a half-plane half-helicopter vertical take-off drone to be available by this summer. Wingtra showed its prototype unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at a CeBit preview in Hannover, Germany. The fixed wing has propellers on its leading edge but it is a simpler design than
VTOL
On 30 December 2015, Urban Aeronautics’ AirMule completed its first autonomous, untethered flight at Megiddo airfield in northern Israel. Rafi Yoeli – chief executive of UrbanAero, the parent company of Tactical Robotics, which developed the vertical take-off and landing aircraft – says the test schedule in Megiddo includes plans to demonstrate the
Military
Small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates could greatly increase their effectiveness if they had their own unmanned air systems (UAS) to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and other capabilities at long range around the clock. Current state-of-the-art UASs, however, lack the ability to take off and land from
Military
Swedish defence company Saab and UMS Aero Group AG, a Swiss supplier of tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are forming a joint venture under the name UMS Skeldar AG. Saab will transfer all assets relating to the Skeldar unmanned helicopter to UMS Skeldar.UMS Skeldar is a multi-skilled enterprise with
VTOL
Lockheed Martin demonstrated its ability to integrate unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations into the National Airspace System (NAS) using its prototype UAS Traffic Management (UTM) capabilities. During the demonstration on Nov. 18, the Stalker XE UAS provided data and a precise geolocation to the unmanned K-MAX cargo helicopter, which conducted
VTOL
The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) completed a successful land-based operational assessment (OA) with the unmanned, autonomous helicopter MQ-8C Fire Scout, at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, Nov. 20. The OA demonstrated the endurance and sensor integration capabilities on the new MQ-8C airframe. The Fire
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Aerolution, a Berlin-based company specialising in developing and marketing UAS for professional purposes, has recently launched the Songbird 1400. This UAS combines the pros of both the fixed wing and the chopper in one and the same aircraft. Basically the aircraft is a fixed wing but the four rotors are
VTOL
“We panned the camera out over the Chesapeake, and there they were, four-and-a-half kilometers away” recalls Aerovel’s Tad McGeer. “It was our first day of demonstrating Flexrotor for the US Coast Guard.” Flexrotor, Aerovel’s exceptional unmanned aircraft, has caught the Coast Guard’s attention with its unique combination
Propulsion
CyPhy Works Parc hexrotor can stay aloft as long as its services are needed, monitoring its surroundings 24-7 with a gyro-stabilized high-definition camera until its humans owners decide it’s time for a break. Parc gets its juice from a micro-filament that also carries data back to the ground. The
Military
AgustaWestland has given international show debuts to a pair of its optionally-piloted and unmanned air vehicle designs in Dubai. Sporting a black livery and based on the SW-4 airframe produced by Polish subsidiary PZL Swidnik, the 1.8t Solo has previously undergone a series of flight trials in the UK,