Jarno Smeets, a 32 year-old Dutchman and creator of the Human Birdwings Project, made history on Sunday with a record-breaking flight of over 100 meters in his local park achieved purely by flapping his wings. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Blue Bear iStart Still Under Development
Mike Humphreys, Military Account Manager for the UK company Blue Bear, said at a DSTL technology day in London, UK, that although the product was launched during DSEi in September, the system is still being developed and will be ready for purchase when the company is confident in its maturity. Continue reading
NASA Flight Tests Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Device
NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center flew its Ikhana MQ-9 unmanned aircraft with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, device, for the first time on March 15. Continue reading
UK Firm Develops COTS Sense-and-Avoid System
Chris Norton spent 22 years as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot before he co-founded 2Excel Aviation in 2005. The UK company operates a fleet of stunt planes known as the Blades and is licensed as an airline, so it can take fare-paying passengers on ride-alongs as the planes do barrel rolls and other aerobatics.
US Navy Arms Firescout
A team at Webster Field Annex is working briskly to support an urgent Navy request to weaponize the MQ-8B Fire Scout, marking the first time the Navy will arm an unmanned aircraft. Continue reading
Boeing Phantom Eye Completes First Medium-Speed Taxi Tests
Boeing has announced that the Phantom Eye high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft has conducted its first medium-speed taxi test. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to Demonstrate MP-RTIP Radar System on Global Hawk Block 40
Military radar experts at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment and partner Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems segment, both in El Segundo, California, will develop and install an advanced air-to-air and air-to-ground radar system for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40 high-endurance unmanned aircraft under terms of a $24.5 million contract announced last week. Continue reading
Automated In-Flight UAS Refuelling Tests For Summer 2012
Flight tests beginning in the mid-2000s have pioneered methods for automation in refuelling routines – summer 2012 may see tests of one unmanned aircraft refuelling another. Continue reading