General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI), has announced that through a contract with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), it executed a missile tracking test as part of the Pacific Dragon (PD) exercise held June 26-28 off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, Hawaii. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Arctic-Capable Solar-Powered Russian UAV
A prototype of an Arctic-capable solar-powered drone for monitoring and telecommunications transmissions has successfully performed a 50-hour-long test-flight in Russia. Designers are preparing a three-times-bigger version for tests later this year.
Facebook’s Solar-Powered Aquila Completes First Flight
Connectivity Lab announced the first full-scale test flight of Aquila, facebook’s high-altitude unmanned aircraft. Aquila is a solar-powered airplane that can be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of people in the hardest-to-reach places. Continue reading
Russia Tested Hydrogen-Powered UAV in Syria
During the operation in Syria, the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) has tested hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a top-ranking representative of the military-industrial complex. According to him, air drones equipped with hydrogen engines showed very good results during the test flights.
3W-Powered UAV for Flights in Antarctica
At the end of February 2016, mechatronics lead Kevin Bass of Intuitive Machines and contracted pilot Mike Laible set off on a planned excursion to Antarctica. In cooperation with the UTIG (University of Texas Institute for Geophysics) and ICECAP (Investigating the Cryospheric Evolution of the Central Antarctic Plate) Intuitive Machines successfully flew multiple runs with a 3W-powered unmanned aerial vehicle platform, Tiburon Jr., on the coast of Antarctica.
NASA’s Two Month UAS Flight Test Series Concludes
As the wheels of NASA’s Ikhana Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) touched down on Thursday, June 30, a two-month flight test series came to a close, concluding an essential stage in the agency’s research into technologies that support safe integration of UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS).
IBM’s Employee Hack for Live Video Feed
IBM developer Andy Trice popped by the TechCrunch New York offices to demo a hack he’s been working on in his spare time, utilizing the company’s cloud computing platform and off-the-shelf drone hardware from DJI. Continue reading
US Navy’s Triton Passes Full-Motion Video To P-8
The US Navy is continuing operational testing of its future unmanned long-endurance maritime surveillance aircraft, the MQ-4C Triton, demonstrating its ability to share critical mission information with the manned P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft.