The US Navy, which already operates the catapult-launched ScanEagle and Blackjack, is interesting in procuring more tactical small unmanned aerial systems to provide ISR in day and night operations, as well as in adverse environmental conditions.
Category Archives: Military UAS
Cockpit Holograms for Manned-Unmanned Teaming
The US Army wants to convert data from multiple distributed sensors into a 3-D hologram beamed inside a cockpit. The goal is to ease the workload on Army pilots overwhelmed by flying their own aircraft while trying to operate unmanned aircraft in manned-unmanned teaming, according to the Army research solicitation.
India Air Force Detects Terrorists with Thermal Imaging
In a statement, the Indian Air Force has revealed that “a group of terrorists were detected by the aerial surveillance platforms as soon as they entered the Air Force Station at Pathankot”. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman Announces DARPA TERN Contract
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research have awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation the third phase of the Tern unmanned systems program. Phase three plans to include final design, fabrication and a full-scale, at-sea demonstration of the system.
Heron Reaches 70,000 Operational Flight Hours In Afghanistan
Israel Aerospace Industries‘ (IAI) Heron-1 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) recently marked its 70,000th flight hour in Afghanistan, after less than 7 years of operation in the country. This follows Heron’s completion of 25,000 flight hours last month under German Air Force operations in Afghanistan. Continue reading
Tern Moves Closer to Full-Scale Demonstration of Unmanned VTOL Aircraft
Small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates could greatly increase their effectiveness if they had their own unmanned air systems (UAS) to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and other capabilities at long range around the clock. Current state-of-the-art UASs, however, lack the ability to take off and land from confined spaces in rough seas and achieve efficient long-duration flight. Continue reading
Vietnamese HS-6L HALE UAV Aided by Belarus
Vietnamese television and other media reports have revealed Vietnam’s largest indigenous high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to date, indicating that it will eventually perform civil and military missions over the South China Sea. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman Gets $93M TERN Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Aerospace Systems, El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $93,076,636 Other Transaction Agreement for prototype project – Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (Tern) program, Phase III.