National Technical Systems, Inc. , a provider of testing and engineering services, announced that it has signed a $1.6 million contract with Sandia National Laboratories to continue the development of the Harvester project, a programme authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy dedicated to monitoring nuclear emissions in the atmosphere through the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2013
Last Rebuilt F-4 Leaves Davis-Monthan AFB for Target Conversion
The final F-4 regenerated from storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group performed its last flight over Tucson, Arizona, April 17, before heading to Mojave, California. Continue reading
DARPA Demonstrates Five-micron Pixel LWIR Camera
The military uses long-wave infrared (LWIR) cameras as thermal imagers to detect humans at night. These cameras are usually mounted on vehicles as they are too large to be carried by a single warfighter and are too expensive for individual deployment. However, DARPA researchers recently demonstrated a new five-micron pixel LWIR camera that could make this class of camera smaller and less expensive. Continue reading
US Air Force Awards Northrop Grumman $35M Global Hawk Engineering Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems Sector, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $35,696,841 contract modification (P00490) of F33657-01-C-4600 for Global Hawk engineering and manufacturing development. Continue reading
Long-Endurance UAS Still an Elusive Goal
Long-endurance flight has long been the holy grail of U.S. unmanned airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, but the quest so far has been worthy of a Monty Python film. Continue reading
Israel Plans to Replace all Piloted Fighter Jets with UAS
Israel’s Air Force is on track to developing UAS that within four to five decades would carry out nearly every battlefield operation executed today by piloted aircraft, a high-ranking Israeli officer told The Associated Press on Sunday. Continue reading
South Africa’s ATE to be Taken Over by Paramount Group
The South African defence industry’s best known secret – the takeover of troubled ATE by the Paramount Group – looks set to become reality before mid-year. Continue reading
University of Alabama in Huntsville Works with US Army on UAS Development
The University of Alabama in Huntsville and the US Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Management Office signed an agreement last week to explore ways to work together on the next generation of unmanned aircraft systems. Continue reading