CAV Ice Protection’s engineering staff, recently relocated to New Century Airport, are increasing focus on the company’s expertise in developing ice protection for unmanned flight. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
US Missile Defense Agency Tests UAS For Boost-Phase Targeting
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to continue testing the use of Reaper unmanned aircraft for ballistic missile target discrimination in the near term because taking that mission to space is still too costly. Continue reading
Lockheed Martin’s Transformer TX in Phase 3 of Development Process
With Transformer (TX), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is giving ‘off-road’ an entirely new meaning. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works® is leading a team with Piasecki Aircraft to develop the next generation of compact, high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned payload delivery systems under the Transformer programme. Continue reading
Sikorsky Develops Matrix Software for Autonomous Helicopters
Sikorsky’s research department has announced that it is developing software and hardware called Matrix intended to “improve significantly the capability, reliability, and safety” of autonomous VTOL aircraft. Continue reading
Solara – Five Years in the Sky at 65,000 Feet
Imagine a featherweight aircraft built of composites boasting an enormous 160 foot wing, swathed in solar cells that can take off at 20 mph and remain aloft for five years. The plane would fly at 65,000 feet, above most air traffic aside from the odd U-2 zooming past. It would, without a doubt, be the loneliest plane in history. Continue reading
US Department of Homeland Security Extends UAS Assessment Programme
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon be taking new applications for its unmanned aircraft assessment programme — a project that gives potential government customers at local, state, and federal levels an impartial evaluation of the strengths and costs of different systems.
Highly-accurate Railway Mapping Project in Australia
DroneMetrex has announced that it has successfully performed a high-precision railway mapping project in Australia. The company’s in-house developed TopoDrone-100 flew and reliably mapped 0,5 km on each of the four sides of the approach to the crossing intersection of the railway and the bitumen road with great accuracy.
NASA Gulfstream G-III to Flight Test Shape-Changing Composite Flap
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center’s Gulfstream III aerodynamics research test bed aircraft is undergoing modification to support the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project, a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Continue reading