by Ramon Bracamontes \ El Paso Times reports:- The Mexican drone that crashed into an El Paso yard last month did not have the authority to be flying into the U.S., a high-ranking U.S. official said Wednesday. But the Dec. 16 incursion is no longer a cause for concern because it was promptly ruled an accident after an investigation...
Aiming at Delhienhancing coastal surveillance capabilities, the Navy is going to commission a squadron of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at Porbandar in Gujarat on January 17. The squadron will comprise Israeli-made Searcher and Heron UAVs and would help in enhancing our surveillance capabilities off the coast of Gujarat, Navy officials said here. The Indian Navy had commissioned its first...
Bill Brewin from the nextgov site writes:- The Navy did not validate invoices worth $329.3 million that Northrop Grumman Corp. submitted for development of a remotely piloted aircraft the service will use to conduct high-altitude ocean reconnaissance, the Defense Department inspector general said in a report issued on Dec. 23. Northrop Grumman won the Navy’s $1.2 billion Broad Area...
Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said Tuesday that Turkey’s dependency on foreign manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles has ended. Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretariat and Turkey’s Vestel Defense Corporation has signed a protocol Tuesday under a project to develop a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). Speaking at the signature ceremony for the protocol in...
ORBIT Communication Systems, Ltd., a satellite communications, tracking, and airborne communications-management systems provider, has been awarded a contract valued at $3.1 Million for the supply of multiple ship borne Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) tracking and communications systems to an undisclosed customer. The advanced tracking and communications systems are designed to be operated on platforms at sea. Compensating for the...
Turkey’s first medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV made its first test flight Dec. 31. Dubbed the ANKA, the 600-kilogram UAV flew for 14 minutes, said officials from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Turkey’s main aerospace company and the UAV’s developer. They said a total of 180 engineers have been working since 2005 on the ANKA, which was unveiled last summer. Powered by...
In a few months, the U.S. Air Force will deploy to Afghanistan what is essentially an all-seeing eye. Named after the ever-alert snake-haired monsters of Greek mythology, the “Gorgon Stare” system is a drone-based sensor with a vastly increased coverage area. Compared to current airborne video systems that provide warfighters with a view of perhaps several hundred square feet...
The Defense Department says it has awarded $85 million to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems of Poway to provide logistical support for its Warrior A/Warrior Block 0 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is being developed for the Army. The work will be performed in Poway but represents support to four unnamed sites outside of the continental United States. The company...
We have heard this one before…. Iran has said it shot down two “Western spy” drones over its territory. The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard air force wing, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying it had shot down “many” spy planes in the past, but that this was the first time it...
Deutsche Weller reports that the German Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner believes sUAS are a privacy threat. The people at Parrot did themselves no favours when their advertising campaign which features a team harassing private individuals around the world caught the eye of the UKs CAA. The iPhone controlled multi rotor flying platform is a relatively simple device that can only...
VICTORVILLE • An Adelanto company is looking to move into abandoned munitions bunkers at Southern California Logistics Airport, where it can test decoy flares and other prototypes for clients that include the Department of Defense and NASA. “One of the new projects that will be kicked off on in this new location will be to conduct research and development...
Elbit Systems Ltd announced Friday it acquired Brazilian companies, Ares Aeroespecial e Defesa S.A. and Periscopio Equipamentos Optronicos S.A. The acquisition was accomplished in a series of transactions totaling tens of millions Brazilian Reals. Ares and Periscopio are involved in the area of defense electronic systems and supply a range of products to the Brazilian military as well as...
The U.S. Air Force Rapid Acquisition Cell launched a urgent procurement program for lethal mini-drones, aiming to field such weapons with Special Operations command units in 2012. The weapons to be delivered under the Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS), will offer the warfighter a portable, non-line-of-sight precision strike capability against individual stationary or moving individuals, ensuring high precision effect...
The U.S. Army is considering making smartphones standard equipment every soldier receives…and it also looking at things like iPads and Kindle readers. The U.S. Army is known for being a boots-on-the-ground organization that deals with nitty-gritty reality rather than the pixel-filled world of apps and status updates…but that may change as the U.S. Army rolls out modernization plans. According...
The Defense Ministry has decided to begin full-scale research from fiscal 2011 into whether unmanned aerial vehicles should be introduced for surveillance of China and North Korea, government sources said. The ministry will send senior Self-Defense Forces officers to study how the U.S. military uses and maintains the state-of-the-art high-altitude Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, the sources said. The...
The South Jersey Economic Development District is tossing its hat into the ring as a potential host region for an aviation conference listed as one of the 23 recommendations recently provided to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood by the Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. “We are looking forward to hosting this important aviation conference that will help shape the...
GEORGE TOWN, Dec 29 (Bernama) — A group of local researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) have successfully developed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the first of its type here. Collaborative Micro-Electronics Design Excellence Centre (CEDEC) director Dr Othman Sidek said the UAV was the first developed by Malaysians and had a number of special features. “The UAV is...
AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ:AVAV) announced today that it received an order valued at $46,226,984 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises 123 new digital Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and initial spares packages as well as 186 digital retrofit kits for the U.S. Marine Corps. The order also includes 339 digital retrofit kits for the...
Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 28: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday demonstrated its indigenously designed and developed aerostat system capable of carrying electro-optic and COMINT payloads for surveillance. The trials of the system concluded on December 25, 2010.These included surveillance all over Agra and interception of variety of communications. ELINT and RADAR payloads are also being developed...
A team of researchers from the Communication Engineering Department (DICOM), University of Cantabria works, together with Indra Espacio in the development of communications systems equipment and high-capacity aircraft applications in both manned and unmanned. The latter are known as UAVs by the acronym “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.” The group composed of teachers and Antonio Angel Mediavilla Bowl, along with investigators...
BASRA PROVINCE, Iraq — Thanks to improving technology, the Soldiers of 1st Platoon, Company E, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, have made improvements in route clearance in Basra, Iraq. The Soldiers in 1st Platoon are taking advantage of relatively new technology, such as the RQ-16A Tarantula Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The T-Hawk has...
Just a week after Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead stressed the importance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the future of the Navy, Dr. Siva Banda, Senior Scientist for Control Theory with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Air Vehicles Directorate presented a lecture on the challenges of achieving UAV autonomy at the Naval Postgraduate School on...
We hope everyone has a safe and secure Christmas. An interesting year lies ahead for sUAS around the world as systems become mature and regulations fall into place. May your landings equal your take off’s. And now a musical interlude.. Oh and the first picture Santa, played by Ken Rice, a civilian contractor with the AAI Corporation, and his six...
By Spc. Gregory Argentieri 10th Press Camp Headquarters BABIL PROVINCE, Iraq – An unmanned aircraft system’s maintenance team is similar to a driver’s pit crew; they may not always get accolades for their work, but success cannot be achieved without them. For soldiers who maintain the Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System with the 66th Military Intelligence Company, 3rd...
It seems like the google crowd are really keen to replicate what many in the sUAS world have been playing with for the last couple of years. It really will be interesting to see the UAS apps that must be coming for the Nexus S. This time its Android under a weather balloon. From the Google mobile blog Here...
Russia to independently manufacture advanced Israeli drones, after Israel delivers 12 unmanned aerial vehicles in a $53 million deal. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has completed the delivery of a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to Russia, paving the way for the implementation of a joint venture under which Russia will independently manufacture advanced Israeli drones. In a $53 million...
The “Eitan” Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Squadron opening ceremony took place on the Tel-Nof IAF Base, December 20th 2010. The “Eitan” UAV was developed by the IAF and Israel’s Homeland Security Industry, and was officially integrated by the IAF in February 2010. This new development signifies yet another breakthrough in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles for the IAF,...
