The unmanned X-47B conducts its first night flight April 10 over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Night flights are the next incremental step in developing the operations concept for more routine UAS flight activity. Continue reading
Author Archives: The Editor
South Korea Considers Low-Altitude Radars from Israel
South Korea is revving up efforts to address vulnerabilities in its air defences, which were brought to the fore following the recent discovery of three crashed UAS, presumably from North Korea. Seoul authorities are seeking to introduce 10 Israeli-made RPS-42 low-altitude radars. Continue reading
South Korea has New Evidence UAS Came from North
South Korea said on Friday that it found additional evidence pointing to North Korea as the sender of unmanned surveillance aircraft found in recent weeks near the inter-Korean border. Continue reading
UAS Survey Looted Dead Sea Sites in Jordan
A video camera strapped to the nose of an unmanned aircraft first shows only a spinning, sunlit horizon in the barrens of southern Jordan. Then the camera swoops, low and slow, over a hilltop whose surface recalls photographs of the lunar battlefields of World War I Europe. Crater after crater gouge the hill’s stony surface. It looks like the aftermath of a murderous artillery barrage. Continue reading
K-State Salina Programme to Validate ASTM Standards
Kansas State University Salina is one of the first universities in the United States to offer a bachelor of science degree in unmanned aircraft systems. Now, K-State Salina has begun a programme to validate standards developed by ASTM International Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Continue reading
US Navy Global Hawk Strays into Canadian Airspace
A U.S. Navy Global Hawk wandered into Canadian-controlled airspace this week off the coast of NovaScotia. It was over the ocean when it crossed into the Canadian zone about 230 kilometres southwest of Yarmouth. Continue reading
US Navy Triton Programme Advances without “Sense-and-Avoid” System
The U.S. Navy’s MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft is progressing through its flight-test programme, but still without a “sense-and-avoid” system that would protect against collisions with other aircraft. The Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) programme office said it is taking a “layered approach” to meeting the requirement until it finds a technology solution. Continue reading
ASTM Approves Seven New Standards for sUAS
The ASTM International Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems has recently approved seven new standards that cover all major facets of small unmanned aircraft systems operations, including design, construction, operation and maintenance requirements. Continue reading