Kansas University’s school of Aerospace Engineering (KUAE) has used MTM®45-1 prepreg from Advanced Composites Group (ACG) to build a fleet of Meridian UAS designed to monitor the flow of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
China Speeds Up UAS Development Programmes
No country has intensified its research in recent years faster than China – now every major manufacturer for the Chinese military has a research centre devoted to UAS. Much of this work remains secret, but it is clear that China is determined to catch up — by building equivalents to the leading U.S. combat and surveillance models, the Predator and the Global Hawk — and also it has a desire to sell this technology abroad.
Neuron Assembly Programme On Schedule
Dassault released photographs of the Neuron UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) demonstrator in final assembly at Istres, France, and confirmed that the six-nation collaborative programme is on schedule.
US Navy Tests UAS Automatic Landing on Aircraft Carrier
A F/A-18D from the "Salty Dogs" of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 makes and arrested landing aboard aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower ((U.S. Navy photo)
The US Navy is one step closer to demonstrating the first carrier-based recoveries and launches of an autonomous, low-observable relevant unmanned aircraft. Continue reading
Unmanned Video Gags
This video of ‘spectacularly unsuccessful’ experiments performed at the GRASP Lab was posted on YouTube last week – it could well have been a sequence from a ‘video gags’ TV show…
Northrop Grumman MQ-4C BAMS First Flight Set for Summer 2012
The first Northrop Grumman MQ-4C broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) aircraft is on track for rollout in the spring of 2012, with first flight that summer.
Camcopter Integrated into New French Offshore Patrol Vessel
Schiebel has announced that it has partnered with French shipbuilder DCNS for the purpose of deploying its Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Air System onboard their new Gowind class of OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel), L ADROIT which was launched in May. Continue reading
Global Hawk Performs Better in the Field than in Tests
Despite a dismal initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) report about the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30, the US Air Force reports a relatively high operational reliability rating.