UAS VISION
an independent online news service for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems world
Finnish catapult manufacturer Robonic Ltd Oy, part of the Sagem Group (Safran) says that the selection of its MC2555 launcher by AME Unmanned Air Systems’ (AME UAS) as part of its new Fury 1500 system opens new doors for the company in the North American market.
SIE Computing Solutions Inc. is introducing the SIE 734 VITA 58 rugged electronics chassis for mission-critical embedded computing systems that must operate in extreme conditions, such as unmanned aircraft systems.
GE Intelligent Platforms is introducing the ADEPT3000 small automatic miniature video tracker for embedded computing applications such as unmanned aircraft systems and man-portable devices where size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) are primary design concerns.
Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Daily is the first American national daily news publication exclusively for the iPad. As part of the drive towards more creative content, the publication has been experimenting with video footage like this shot from a toy unmanned aircraft.
MQ-9-Reaper
The U.S. Air Force is planning to move much of its UAS force from Iraq and Afghanistan to East Asia over the next four years. Currently, the Air Force has 53 MQ-1As Predator and MQ-9 Reaper UAVs operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Navy awarded two fixed-price contracts to Boeing/Frontier Systems and Lockheed Martin for their unmanned A160T Hummingbird ($29.9 million) and KMAX ($45.8 million), for Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System services in December last year. A decision is now expected some time this summer on which system to send to theatre, with an initial 6-month deployment scheduled for autumn 2011.
Aero-Instruments, a manufacturer of Air Data Sensors, has announced the acquisition of SpaceAge Control’s air data product line.
Boeing has announced that the Phantom Ray successfully completed its first flight on April 27 at NASA’s Dryden Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.