NASA has partnered with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, to successfully demonstrate the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems on a use case to support emergency response and disaster recovery activities. Continue reading
Author Archives: The Editor
What Happened to Drone Delivery and What Can We Learn From It?
Despite all of the excitement and all of the big investment in drone programs, we still don’t have drone delivery in most places. Food’s still being dropped off by gig drivers, and nobody’s getting a new iPhone 18XXL dropped onto their lawns. If anything, packages and deliveries happen slower than they did before. Continue reading
Anduril Gets $31M US Air Force SkyFence Contract
Anduril Industries Inc., Costa Mesa, California, was awarded a $31,115,802 firm-fixed-price delivery order for Wide-Area Infrared System for Persistence Surveillance SkyFence. Continue reading
Drastic Increase in US Army Coyote Drone Interceptor Purchase Plans
The U.S. Army plans to substantially increase its arsenal of Coyote counter-drone interceptors, as well as associated launchers and radars, in the next five years or so. The service says it wants to buy 6,000 jet-powered Block 2 variants, which carry an explosive warhead to destroy their target, and 700 more Block 3 versions that utilize an unspecified “non-kinetic” payload.
PhD Student Jailed for Life for Building IS Kamikaze Drone
A PhD engineering student who built a ‘kamikaze’ drone in the hopes it would deliver chemical weapons for Isis was jailed for life on DEcember 22nd. Mohamed Al Bared, 27, used a 3D printer in his bedroom to put together a prototype of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Continue reading
UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía and Qascom Successfully Complete DEGREE Project Flight Tests
In a significant milestone for the DEGREE project, UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía, a Spanish company specializing in guidance, navigation, and control systems for RPAS/UAS, has successfully conducted flight tests to validate the performance of the EGNSS receiver developed under the project, funded by EUSPA and led by Qascom in collaboration with UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía, Acorde and EuroUSC. Continue reading
PrecisionHawk Files for Bankruptcy
PrecisionHawk, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based developer of commercial drones, is shutting down. In mid-December 2023, the company voluntarily filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Continue reading
Japan and USA Sign Joint Agreement for AI and UAS Research
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Japanese Ministry of Defense signed a project arrangement for joint research on Overwhelming Response through Collaborative Autonomy, Dec. 22, 2023. Continue reading