A new, apparently very fast drone type made its first public appearance at a rehearsal for a national celebration in Beijing on Sept. 21, 2019. The long, narrow unmanned aerial vehicle, reportedly designated DR-8, or Wuzhen 8, appears to be configured for supersonic flight. It likely is a reconnaissance craft. Continue reading
Author Archives: The Editor
Turkey’s First Flying Car Debuts at Teknofest
Turkey’s first flying car, Cezeri became the most notable product at this year’s Teknofest, the country’s top aerospace and technology festival visited by nearly 2 million people from Sept. 17-22. Continue reading
Trillium Successfully Tests New H.265 Video Encoder for Tactical Drones
Trillium Engineering, a supplier of gimballed camera systems for small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), successfully conducted a test flight of a new video processor that will dramatically improve the operation of Group 2 UAS. Continue reading
SAFIR Demos Viable Drone Traffic in Port of Antwerp
On Thursday September 26th, the SAFIR consortium held an Open Day hosted by the Port of Antwerp. A multitude of industrial and commercial drone applications were on display during live demonstrations. During the Open Day, the safety and economic viability of integrated drone traffic in a challenging environment was successfully demonstrated by the various use cases of the consortium partners. Continue reading
Northrop Gets $376M US Navy Triton UAS Radar Order
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, has been awarded a maximum $375,792,189 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-19-F-E31N) against a five year basic ordering agreement (N00019-15-G-0026) for Multi Function Active Sensor Radar Systems for the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system. Continue reading
Travel Air Type-R – ‘Mystery Ship’
The identity and purpose of the new racer were kept secret, being built behind closed doors and away from the main production line, the craftsmen involved in its construction being sworn to secrecy. It was because of this cloak of secrecy that it was dubbed the Mystery Ship by the press, a name that stuck, though it was officially designated the Travel Air Type R, or just the R. Continue reading
UAV Turbines’ Microturbine Engine Completes Successful First Flight
UAV Turbines, Inc. , a pioneer of microturbine technology, announced the inaugural flight of its Monarch 5 engine, a first-of-its-kind microturbine propulsion system, at Griffiss International Airport. This new turboprop technology is engineered to provide mid-sized commercial and military unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) with a reliable, efficient, safe, heavy-fuel propulsion system. Continue reading
The Drone Databook
Once a novelty, drones have become standard military equipment around the world.
In The Drone Databook, a new study just released , the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College presents an encyclopaedic catalogue of military drone inventories, units, bases and test sites, training academies, research and development programs, operational experiences, and exports, showing that at least 95 countries now maintain active military drone programs, a 58 percent increase over a decade ago, and that there are likely at least 21,000 military drones in operation around the globe. Continue reading




