US Army General Martin E. Dempsey bristles when he hears someone use the word drone. “You will never hear me use the word ‘drone,’ and you’ll never hear me use the term ‘unmanned aerial systems,’” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “Because they are not. They are remotely piloted aircraft.”
Category Archives: News
US Sends UAS and 80 Airmen to Help Nigerian Search
The US Defense Department’s addition of an unmanned aerial vehicle and 80 Air Force troops to U.S. efforts supporting Nigeria’s search for over 200 missing schoolgirls has turned the mission into an air operation, Army Colonel Steve Warren, director of Pentagon Press Operations, said. Continue reading
Iran Displays Cloned RQ-170 Sentinel
Iran claims to have successfully copied the US RQ-170 Sentinel it captured in December 2011, with state television broadcasting – and even the country’s supreme leader tweeting – images of the replicated aircraft. Continue reading
Poor Maintenance Grounds Nigeria’s Israeli UAS
Aerostar – Photo: Aeronautics Defense Systems
The Aerostar unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acquired by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in 2006 have reportedly been grounded due to a lack of maintenance, limiting surveillance operations against Boko Haram militants. Meanwhile the US has deployed a Predator team to Chad to search for kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. Continue reading
Stop Calling Them Drones – They’re Just RC Helicopters with a Camera
I don’t know when remote control helicopters became drones, but I think its way past time we stop implying that a fancy RC helicopter with a camera strapped to it is some sort of autonomous Terminator robot.OK sure, in the beginning I know that somebody though that “drone” sounded a lot cooler than “model airplane”. Continue reading
3-D Printing Companies See Growing Market in Unmanned Aircraft
Three-D printing companies are experiencing an explosion of sales to the unmanned aircraft industry, a trend that will likely continue, industry executives said at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference. Continue reading
Ex-Insitu Employee Convicted of Trade Secrets Theft
Trade secrets cases in the employment context usually provide valuable lessons on what not to do when leaving a job. The recent conviction of Stephen Marty Ward by a Washington federal jury imparts one such lesson: when you are terminated after working on a project for the Navy involving drones, don’t threaten to blackmail your former employer with trade secret disclosure. Continue reading
Iran to Increase Service Ceiling of Shahed 129 UAV
The Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced plans to boost the service ceiling of Iran-made Shahed 129 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) up to 60,000 ft (18km). Hajizadeh made the announcement while explaining the latest achievements of the IRGC Aerospace Force to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in an exhibition of the achievements on Sunday. Continue reading