Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience

VTOL BVLoS Flight Testing Nears Completion in Brazil


FT SISTEMAS has successfully advanced in the Flight Testing campaign of its new design the FT-100FH Rotorcraft. The company is about to conclude the Visual-Line-of-Sight flight testing necessary to go further in the development, getting RBAC-E94 Beyond-Line-of-Sight flight authorization by ANAC, the Brazilian civil aviation authority. Continue reading

India Successfully Demonstrates 10Kg Helicopter UAV

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited successfully demonstrated flight of a 10Kg Rotary Wing (Helicopter) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (RUAV) here in the presence of its Board of Directors, recently.  The RUAV is of a 2-stroke petrol engine, twin blade main rotor and tail rotor, payload capability of 2.5Kg including live stream video camera and range of the vehicle is 8-10 Km with an endurance of one hour.  Continue reading

Next Generation of Humanitarian Airdrops

To reach the more than 800 million people who are hungry worldwide, logistics are often a key issue. Assisting 80 million people in 80 countries each year, even WFP –  the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives – cannot reach everybody to deliver life- saving humanitarian aid. Continue reading

GA-ASI Completes Testing of Arresting Hook for MQ-25

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) concluded performance testing of the arresting hook Hold Down Damper (HDD) for its proposed MQ-25 unmanned aerial refuelling aircraft for the U.S. Navy. GA-ASI worked in collaboration with a team from GKN Aerospace’s Fokker business unit in Helmond, Netherlands. Fokker is slated to supply the arresting hook for the GA-ASI bid. Continue reading

Leonardo Trials Solo and Hero

Leonardo continues to invest heavily in unmanned helicopter technology, offering the Solo and Hero platforms. No customer has yet bought them, but the Italian and British defense ministries have provided funding for flight trials, and now the company is leading a major research contract on unmanned maritime surveillance for the European Defence Agency (EDA). Continue reading

XQ-58A Valkyrie ‘Loyal Wingman’ Test Flights Scheduled

An experimental aircraft designed to demonstrate a radical new concept in modern air warfare will enter flight testing this autumn, says Major Gen William Cooley, commander of the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) The XQ-58A Valkyrie, built by target drone maker Kratos, embodies one approach to the AFRL’s concept of a “Loyal Wingman”, a low-cost, unmanned aircraft that could expand the combat capacity of a dwindling fleet of manned fighters and bombers without busting the service’s budget. Continue reading