NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Army News Service, April 4, 2012) — The U.S. Army is moving along with a series of upgrades and technological improvements to its Unmanned Aerial System platforms, or UAS, Program Office officials said April 3. The UAS improvements are part of a broader effort to bring increased sensing and surveillance capability to deployed forces, officials said at...
BINGEN, Wash., April 5, 2012—Insitu Inc. announced today that its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS) successfully completed its first hydrogen-powered fuel cell flight during a two-and-a-half-hour flight test. The hydrogen-powered fuel cell solution was implemented as a modular upgrade to the runway-independent, expeditionary Group 2 ScanEagle UAS. The collaboration between Insitu, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and United Technologies (UTC)...
Harwin, manufacturer of hi-rel interconnect solutions and cost-saving PCB hardware products, has announced that Flir Systems, the leader in thermal imaging technology, is using its hi-rel Datamate connector system on several of its airborne systems including helicopter and UAV-mounted equipment. Harwin’s Datamate 2mm pitch connectors ensure integrity of connection in harsh environments, being able to withstand 100G shock, 40G...
Ask Marcello Napolitano about aircraft safety, and you get a detailed explanation of his research. Ask him about his West Virginia University students, and you get a litany of praise of their abilities and accomplishments. Ask him about himself, and you get, well, not much. Nothing about his skills as a musician, an artist, a creator, a thinker. Nothing...
Use for UAS that regulators never thought of continue to pop up. The practicalities of actually keeping platforms in the air long enough to be useful seem to be being ignored over the sex appeal of multicopters. Multicopters are super simple to build and fly hence their popularity. Once they start finding out that fixed wing platforms can lift...
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, New Mexico Unmanned aircraft are the new cornerstone of modern military operations, and both American and British crews are learning to fly them at a New Mexico Air Force base. There, they must tackle the practical questions of what it means to wage war from afar. America and its allies are fighting wars around...
By: EBONY HORTON | Dothan Eagle OZARK—A self-funded project involving the maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could potentially increase the workforce at Bell Helicopter’s Ozark facility, officials confirmed this week. Bell Helicopter, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, plans to begin the project later this year. Barry Ford, general manager for the Ozark facility, said there could be a need...
From NextGov By Bob Brewin 04/04/2012 The State Department wants to acquire its own fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles to help protect diplomats posted to Iraq and other dangerous countries and in March, issued a request for proposals for contractors to provide the aircraft, crew and support on a turnkey basis. State already operates UAVs over Iraq to help provide...
(Reuters) – A U.S. drone crash-landed at the Seychelles main airport and careered into the ocean on Wednesday, the second remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft to crash on the Indian Ocean archipelago in four months. The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said the aircraft had technical problems soon after taking off and tried to land at Seychelles International Airport...
System Payloads Being Designed for Law Enforcement and Homeland Defense Advanced Defense Technologies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ADCF) and Halberd Corporation announced today the delivery of the first of several drones. The ADTI engineers are working collaboratively with Halberd to complete the critical design parameters for the payload systems that will provide the technical specifications needed for law enforcement and homeland defense...
We are not sure this use of a UAS is actually private, its part of a paid for event. Greg Hastings is clearly is angling to make a commercial gain with the platform. It shows how the rules will still be bent even after they are in place. So to be clear we don’t agree with the interpretation of...
The Belarusian State Military-Industrial Committee is planning to develop a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability, the committee’s chairman Sergei Gurulev said. “We are considering a wide range of UAVs with VTOL capability – from mini-sized to medium and heavy class UAVs,” Gurulev said in an interview with “VPK.Belarus” publication. Several Belarusian...
Russia’s Interior Ministry has said it plans to spend up to 120 million rubles ($4 million) to buy eight unmanned aerial vehicles. The ministry would also require vans and radios to operate the drones, according to a tender document posted on the government purchasing agency website zakupki.gov.ru on Tuesday. The vehicles are to be deployed in the southern Stavropol, Astrakhan and...
BY JEFFERSON MORLEY So you want to be a drone pilot? Have a seat in the operator’s control station that guides the remotely piloted aircraft. You could be sitting in a trailer on Creech Air Force Base in Nevada or doing your duty at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. From this perch, you can see a battle space on the other...
by Nicole Martinelli Airborne newsgathering is a hot topic, but some experts believe that drone journalism may have a hard time really getting off the ground. After spotting cameras on the wing snapping spectacular footage of protests and natural disasters, I wanted to learn more, so I enlisted Burt Herman of Hacks/Hackers and we gathered Chris Anderson of Wired, Jennifer Lynch of the EFF,...
L-3 Integrated Optical Systems announced today that it has been selected by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the next phase of the Ultra Wide Field of View Wide Area Airborne Surveillance Sensor (WAASS) development program. This surveillance system research and development program will continue to demonstrate a wide area persistent imaging surveillance sensor that provides situational awareness...
The U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has awarded CSC (NYSE: CSC) an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) contract to deliver streaming Video as a Service. This is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) multiple award contract (MAC) with three prime awardees. The contract has a 60-month period of performance, with a total maximum value of $874 million. Under the...
BY JENNIFER ROBISON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL A state economic-diversification agency has selected a panel of business and government leaders to help build Nevada’s aerospace economy. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development announced Monday that 15 people will serve in a group to oversee Nevada’s efforts to obtain a Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence designation for the development of unmanned...
Nigel King and Quest UAV have been out and about again. South West Water and the University of Exeter will assess images taken by the vehicle as part of a plan to re-wet Exmoor’s blanket bogs. The drone flies at a height of 300m (985ft) and can capture images at a rate of one per second. The project aims...
Is this another save the Global Hawk campaign? A United Nations unmanned aircraft peace keeping force may be on the cards or more likely they might purchase time or information from military drones already in service. Questions were asked of Eduardo del Buey, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General at a meeting on Tuesday the 27th of March 2012 answered:-...
From This is Bristol A PROTEST in the city centre against a conference on unmanned drone aircraft ended with seven people being arrested. About 75 people gathered outside Armada House in Telephone Avenue and in Baldwin Street at about 9am yesterday to disrupt and protest against the Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle Conference. They argued that the aircraft – known as...
Fort Worth, TX & Hunt Valley, MD – April 2, 2012 – Bell Helicopter and Textron Systems operating unit AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems, both Textron Inc. companies (NYSE: TXT), have teamed to develop a Manned Unmanned Operations (MUMO) Capability Development Laboratory in Huntsville, AL. to enable a software and hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) development test capability using operationally relevant systems specific...
By Calli Forbes Sherwood Park News A Sherwood Park-based air cadets squadron was given some help from Strathcona County on Thursday, as they look to raise funds to send them soaring over to England this summer. The 12 Edmonton Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron received $5,500 from the county in order to help send the group to represent Canada...
13.5-pound Small Tactical Munition Phase II designed for unmanned aircraft systems Raytheon Company’s RTN +0.66% Small Tactical Munition Phase II scored a direct hit on a target during the weapon’s first guided flight test. “STM Phase II is ideally suited to weaponize Shadow-class unmanned aircraft systems and counterinsurgency aircraft because STM is a mature, precise and affordable weapon,” said Dr. Thomas R....
Army Aviation Association of America – AeroVironment, Inc. AVAV -0.30% today unveiled a new miniature gimbaled sensor payload on the battle-proven RQ-11B Raven small unmanned aircraft system at the Army Aviation Association of America Annual Professional Forum and Exposition. The modular payload includes a high-resolution color and an infrared thermal video sensor, as well as a laser illuminator integrated into a multi-axis...
This paper is meant to enlighten people on possible environmental related uses that unmanned aircraft systems are doing presently, and dispel pre-conceptions that UAS can only be used for martial (military and police) or spying (movies and espionage) uses. The topics that will be covered in this paper to teach people are farming, fire, hurricane studies, flooding, oil exploration,...
A sad story. but one that underlines the effectiveness of UAS in the search and rescue role. Gene Robinson from RP search services flew over the scene and spotted something in the water that warranted investigation by a Police helicopter. Our condolences go to the family of Devon Davis. From Texas Eccusearch http://texasequusearch.org/ Found Deceased: Devon Davis, 2 1/2 Yrs., Cleveland,...
