Mini Devil Ray from AttoPilot International

9 September 2011
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Mini Devil Ray from AttoPilot International

This small, low cost UAS was developed to carry the largest payload possible whilst staying in the air for an extended lengths of time. The Mini Devilray is made from a crash resistant EPP foam with a proprietary composite fuselage able to easily carry 10,000 mAh plus payload. Currently only available directly through AttoPilot International as a ready to...

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FOIA Foibles And Other Examples Of The Paradoxical

9 September 2011
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FOIA Foibles And Other Examples Of The Paradoxical

This latest installment is years in the making, and from the outset meant to serve the good of the UAS community. It offers a behind the scenes look at our current becalmed air space integration effort. It’s another sunny afternoon in late 2011 and I am quietly minding my own affairs in the off moment when I notice a...

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AeroVironment Receives $16 Million Order for Raven Unmanned Aircraft Systems Contractor Logistics Support

9 September 2011
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AeroVironment Receives $16 Million Order for Raven Unmanned Aircraft Systems Contractor Logistics Support

MONROVIA, Calif., Sep 08, 2011  AeroVironment, Inc. today announced that it received a $15,909,962 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract order on September 1, 2011, under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises Army contractor logistics support for Raven systems. The logistics support services are scheduled to be delivered within the next several months. “Raven unmanned aircraft systems continue to provide...

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AeroVironment, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2012 First Quarter Results

8 September 2011
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AeroVironment, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2012 First Quarter Results

MONROVIA, Calif., Sep 07, 2011  AeroVironment, Inc. today reported financial results for its first quarter ending July 30, 2011. “First quarter revenue of $62.0 million rose by 62% over last year, and diluted earnings per share of $0.01 increased from a loss of $0.16. Reflecting continued demand for our small unmanned aircraft systems, the $65.5 million contract for Puma systems...

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Israel, Germany jointly develop UAV arms system

7 September 2011
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Israel, Germany jointly develop UAV arms system

Loitering weapons system combines drones developed by both nations. A rare look into Israel’s unmanned weapons capabilities was revealed on Tuesday with an announcement by Germany’s Rheinmetall that it had jointly developed with Israel a loitering weapons system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system, called WABEP, which in German stands for “Weapons system for standoff engagement...

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Coptermotion, New Aerial Camera Platform

7 September 2011
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Coptermotion, New Aerial Camera Platform

Coptermotion- the flying camera system is a VTOL (Vertical take off & landing) miniature multi rotor helicopter designed especially for professional aerial video purposes and photography. The Coptermotion design utilizes eight main brushless electric engines which allow the aircraft to hover extremely steadily in high winds and turbulent conditions. Its maneuverability is unsurpassed by using differential thrust. The thrust...

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The Next Wave of Botnets Could Descend from the Skies

7 September 2011
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The Next Wave of Botnets Could Descend from the Skies

Robert Lemos from MIT technology review reports a hacking task for a simple platform. Researchers are developing hacking drones that could build a wireless botnet or track someone via cell phone. The buzz starts low and quickly gets louder as a toy quadricopter flies in low over the buildings. It might look like flight enthusiasts having fun, but it...

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Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-MAX Completes U.S. Navy Unmanned Cargo Assessment

6 September 2011
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Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-MAX Completes U.S. Navy Unmanned Cargo Assessment

OWEGO, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2011 The Lockheed Martin led unmanned K-MAX® team successfully completed a five-day Quick Reaction Assessment (QRA) for the U.S. Navy’s Cargo Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program. “The autonomous flying K-MAX is designed to resupply Marines on the battlefield and in remote locations,” said Roger Il Grande, director of Airborne Systems at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems &...

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UAVs have ag appeal

6 September 2011
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UAVs have ag appeal

Graham Fuller of Farm Weekly Australia reports from a flying demo event. RAPIDLY-emerging unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology took a giant step forward last week with flying demonstrations of the latest hardware attracting rural interest at a Marburg field day just west of Brisbane. The deployment of these systems is well documented by the military but the spotlight is...

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Trimble’s New 80 Megapixel Aerial Camera Extends the Medium-Format Application Range

6 September 2011
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STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 6, 2011  Trimble announced today its 80 megapixel Trimble Aerial Camera (TAC 80MP), extending the range of applications for today’s medium-format aerial cameras. The announcement was made at Photogrammetric Week. With advanced features such as Trimble’s forward motion compensation (FMC) technology, the TAC 80MP allows aerial service providers to fly faster or increase ground sampling distance. This enables fixed...

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U.S. Army Awards AeroVironment $4.9 Million Contract for Switchblade Agile Munition Systems and Services

2 September 2011
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U.S. Army Awards AeroVironment $4.9 Million Contract for Switchblade Agile Munition Systems and Services

MONROVIA, Calif., Sept. 1, 2011 — AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) announced that it received a contract on June 29 from the U.S. Army Close Combat Weapons Systems (CCWS), Program Executive Office Missiles and Space (PEO MS). The $4,907,840 contract for the Switchblade agile munition includes engineering services and operational systems for deployment with the U.S. Army. This award represents...

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Global Hawk and Sentinel were part of Bin Laden raid.

1 September 2011
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Global Hawk and Sentinel were part of Bin Laden raid.

asAviation Week reveals more details of the tech behind the raid on Bin Ladens compound. We all knew UAS were part of the mission, now some more detail is trickling out. By David A. Fulghum Aviation Week Northrop Grumman officials indicated that two Block 20 Global Hawk UAVs — both with the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) — had...

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BBC Coast uses sUAS to map Roman Harbour.

1 September 2011
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BBC Coast uses sUAS to map Roman Harbour.

The COAST team descended on the UK’s Yorkshire coastline during the lowest forecast tides of the year to examine what is thought to be the remnants of a Roman Harbour, jutting out from Filey Brigg. The Brigg is rocky spit protruding out to sea that is regularly washed by high seas. The Filey Brigg research Group have been investigating the harbour...

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That mystery bird shaped drone

31 August 2011
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That mystery bird shaped drone

A video clip from Kalam TV has come to light of the ‘capture’ of the mystery drone in Pakistan. It would seem a little more sophisticated than a simple home made job. http://www.kalam.tv/ur/video/87696/index.html can’t find how to embed it. This particular bit caught our eye. Lots more markings that seem to point to this not being the only system of its...

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Aerial flight demo delayed due to river mishap

31 August 2011
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Aerial flight demo delayed due to river mishap

From the Kamloops Daily News It was supposed to fly over a crowd of onlookers at an aerial flight demonstration on Monday. But the high-tech remote-controlled video camera – affectionately named Mojo 1 – took an accidental dip in the Thompson River, sidelining its public debut. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was owned and operated by Mastermind Studios, a...

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Anti-Naxal operations: Hand-launched UAVs to be deployed

31 August 2011
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Anti-Naxal operations: Hand-launched UAVs to be deployed

Hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will soon be deployed in Naxal-hit zones of the country to provide security forces a close range surveillance of the ground terrain. Initially, two ‘mini’ UAVs are proposed to be deployed in Chhattisgarh and a border-area of Jharkhand to gather ground information for security forces before they embark on anti-Naxal operations and launch planned...

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Hangar mishap delays airship test

30 August 2011
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Hangar mishap delays airship test

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., Aug. 30 Scheduled flight testing of the Argus One lighter-than-air unmanned aerial vehicle has been delayed following a hangar mishap in Arizona. World Surveillance Group Inc. said minor damage to the envelope of the UAV was caused by unexpected strong wind gusts that hit the Argus One UAV broadside while the airship was being moved...

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KSU-Salina gets authorization to fly unmanned plane at airport

30 August 2011
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The Salina Municipal Airport’s runways have been host to some of the largest aircraft in the world, but within a few weeks, one very small aircraft will begin operations at the airport. Officials at Kansas State University at Salina announced Tuesday that the university had received a Certificate of Authorization from the FAA to fly its Aerosonde Mk 4.7...

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AeroVironment Introduces Shrike Multicopter

30 August 2011
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AeroVironment Introduces Shrike Multicopter

This multirotor better be good as it’s DARPA research funded, is this the first AV product designed for the civil market? MONROVIA, Calif.–AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) today introduced its lightweight and man-portable Shrike VTOL™ unmanned aircraft system. “This new solution adds an important set of new capabilities to our existing and battle-proven family of small unmanned aircraft systems that are saving...

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Raytheon wants to be the Microsoft of unmanned military aircraft

30 August 2011
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Raytheon wants to be the Microsoft of unmanned military aircraft

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems is developing a sort of operating system for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to allow rapid adaptation of new features such as weapons and sensors. Raytheon’s Service-Oriented Architecture, or SOA – which the company highlighted during a recent UAS trade show – is roughly analogous to a computer operating system. The SOA system would be compatible...

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Flying saucer makes debut at Washington show

29 August 2011
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Flying saucer makes debut at Washington show

An American start up company from Arizona continues to grow and make the right connections with an interesting circular winged platform. Chris Mc Nair from AttoPilot sent us news of a very successful AUVSI 2011. AttoPilot International (API)  have teamed up with AeroBat Aviation in a cooperative partnership to produce high quality low cost sUAS and RPA systems. API is...

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Video of Aerovel Flexrotor transition

27 August 2011
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Video of Aerovel Flexrotor transition

Aerovel has released this video of the Aug 11, 2011, transition between vertical and horizontal flight by its Flexrotor vertical take-off and landing small unmanned aircraft. The flight included a hover and vertical recovery. Flexrotor has been designed by the same people who developed the Insitu ScanEagle long-endurance small UAV and is designed for fully automatic vertcial take-off and...

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DARPA, U.S. Army and Rockwell Collins release video of damage tolerance control testing on Shadow

27 August 2011
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DARPA, U.S. Army and Rockwell Collins release video of damage tolerance control testing on Shadow

Last fall, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Army and Rockwell Collins demonstrated Damage Tolerance Control (DTC) on the RQ-7B Shadow Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), marking the first time that the technology has been tested on a fielded platform. Video of that historic flight test was viewed for the first time during a Rockwell Collins media...

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Hood Tech well-poised to take advantage of UAV growth.

26 August 2011
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Hood Tech well-poised to take advantage of UAV growth.

Hood Tech Corp. Vision, Inc. (Hood Tech), headquartered in the small town of Hood River, Oregon, is well-poised to take advantage of UAV growth, according to projections of the overall growth of the market for unmanned aircraft (UAVs) and the sensors they carry. Hood Tech provides stabilized camera systems to small UAVs, notably the ScanEagle and Integrator platforms ,...

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US surveillance drone crashes in Pakistan, perhaps.

26 August 2011
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US surveillance drone crashes in Pakistan, perhaps.

We can’t find any other images of this UAS, if it is from America its unknown. It looks like it has had several repairs, most interesting is the number 140 on the tail. Perhaps indicating there are more than one of these about. QUETTA, Pakistan — An American surveillance drone equipped with a camera crashed in southwestern Pakistan Thursday...

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Reaper damaged in Holloman AFB landing

25 August 2011
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Reaper damaged in Holloman AFB landing

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE Officials with the 49th Wing said a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft sustained damage during landing around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The accident occurred at the end of a local training mission. The aircraft is assigned to the 29th Attack Squadron, which is a remotely piloted aircraft flying training unit. Lt. Michele Rollins with 49th Wing...

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NPRM pushed back yet again.

25 August 2011
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NPRM pushed back yet again.

Commercial use of sUAS in the USA just moved further into the future.  The NPRM process has now been moved to the 6th of January 2012 with the comment period ending 5th of April 2012 About the rulemaking This rulemaking would enable small unmanned aircraft to safely operate in limited portions of the national airspace system (NAS). This action...

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