Insitu, Inc., Bingen, Wash., is being awarded a $21,048,058 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-11-C-0061) to exercise an option for operational and maintenance services in support of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems. These services will provide electro-optical/infrared and mid-wave infrared imagery in support of U.S. Marine Corps operations in Operation Enduring Freedom to provide real-time imagery and...
Two U.S. companies have teamed to develop beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications for unmanned aircraft systems. The alliance between AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems of Maryland and California’s ViaSat Inc., will integrate the companies’ command-and-control and satellite communications expertise. It also brings Overwatch into the mix. Overwatch, like AAI, is a Textron Systems company specializing in and intelligence solutions for the U.S....
BANGALORE: Flight trials of Micro and Mini Air Vehicles designed and developed to meet many requirements including countering low intensity conflicts, counter terrorism and for rescue operations during natural calamities, were conducted at Hoskote near here, DRDO said on Wednesday. These small vehicles are capable of flying in full autonomous mode and transmitting live day and night video to...
Marines witnessed the first flight of the service’s newest small unmanned aircraft Jan. 22 at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif. As part of the RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) Early Operational Capability (EOC), personnel from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 and 3 and Insitu operators exercised the current configuration...
The Union of Information Technologies Enterprises (UITE) has announced the first ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’ contest in Armenia. Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles provide road patrol, monitoring of ecological issues, for example, referring to pollution of air and rivers, mapping, video recording and even an intelligence service. “This has a military and even healthcare significance,” says UITE Executive Director Karen Vardanyan....
A national research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder is embarking on a two-year, multi-pronged effort to better understand the impacts of environmental factors associated with the continuing decline of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The team will use tools ranging from unmanned aircraft and satellites to ocean buoys in order to understand the characteristics and...
Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that the Swiss Department of Defence has become the first customer for the Centaur Optionally-Piloted Aircraft (OPA). Armasuisse, an official procurement agency of the Swiss Department of Defence with its own Flight Test Center, will use the Centaur as a flying test bed for new sensors and Sense & Avoid equipment required to operate...
BANGALORE: Lt Col V S Thapa, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) external test pilot, hailing from Dehra Dun, will command this year’s Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Republic Day parade contingent in New Delhi. Thapa is presently posted on a special assignment to Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) — which is also the abode of home-grown UAVs, including...
From Flightglobal: NATO’s long-running process to order an Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) capability could at last achieve a contract signature within the next few months, although the scale of its programme appears to have again been revised. “We have the contract, and it’s under negotiation,” said US Air Force Maj Gen Steve Schmidt, commander of the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force....
Loren B. Thompson Writing on the Lexington Institute site In a move that seems to contradict the Obama Administration’s recently announced Asia-Pacific strategy, the Pentagon has decided to mothball its longest-range surveillance drones and rely instead on shorter-range U-2 spy planes. The move is a victory for U-2 maker Lockheed Martin, which argues the U-2 has many more years of operational life...
