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.
Category Archives: Military UAS
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.
NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) First Flight
From the aircraft build to flight, the first RQ-4 Global Hawk developed for the NATO Allied Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme has taken to the air. Leaving from Palmdale, NATO’s first Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft successfully executed a comprehensive range of test points before landing at Edwards Air Force Base on December 19, 2015 in Palmdale, California. Continue reading
USA won’t Fly Troops into Battle Unmanned Helicopters
The US Army has no plans to ferry troops into war zones aboard unmanned helicopters, but will push autonomous and remote-controlled flight technology for cargo delivery, although it’s not a near-term priority, service officials say. Continue reading
UK Royal Navy Seeks Funds for Two UAS Programmes
The UK Royal Navy is looking to launch two new unmanned air system (UAS) programmes, but is dependent on gaining funding for the projects in an upcoming review of Ministry of Defence spending in 2016 before it can take the projects forward. Continue reading