UAS VISION
an independent online news service for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems world
VA 001 Vanilla Aircraft
The FAI has ratified a duration world record for a unique experimental unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The VA001, an unmanned aircraft that looks like a glider but is powered by a diesel engine, successfully flew for 55hrs 56mins non-stop and without re-fuelling on 2 December 2016. Continue reading
On August 16th General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) flew a MQ-9B SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) from Laguna Airfield at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., through National Airspace, to its Gray Butte Flight Operations facility near Palmdale, California. Continue reading
Microsoft is already thinking about self-flying airplanes. The tech giant tested such technology in Hawthorne, 130 miles south of Reno, last week with the help of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems. Continue reading
The U.S. Naval Research Lab has been working on its CICADA (Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft) drones since at least 2011. The tiny drones are designed to be carried aloft by other aircraft and dropped, whereupon they’ll use GPS and little fins to glide to within 15 feet of their destination. Continue reading
DARPA’s Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS) research effort recently demonstrated its prototype of a low-cost, elevated sensor mast aboard a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel for the first time. The crew of USS Zephyr, a 174-foot (53-meter) Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship, evaluated the technology demonstration system over three days near Naval Station Mayport, Florida. Continue reading
A team from the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command simulates the operation of the future MQ-25 during a demo of the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The US Navy says it is moving full-throttle on plans to fly unmanned aircraft off of carriers. The planned MQ-25A will serve primarily as a refuelling platform, with the capacity to carry out some intelligence missions. The first unmanned craft to fly off a carrier, it is slated to deploy on the aircraft carriers Dwight D. Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush as early as 2019. Continue reading
UTAP-22 Mako
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. recently completed a flight test series evaluating the next evolution of the UTAP-22 Mako Unmanned Aerial System that was first introduced and demonstrated in late 2015. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman is using an X-47B unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as a flying testbed for air refuelling systems in support of its proposal for the U.S. Navy’s upcoming MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refuelling tanker contest. Continue reading