Australia has agreed to extend the deployment of two Heron unmanned surveillance aircraft to assist with security for Afghanistan’s national elections in April next year. Defence Minister David Johnston said the 40-member Heron team, based at Kandahar airport, would now stay until next July. Continue reading
Category Archives: News
Iran Claims Reverse-Enginered RQ-170 Soon Ready to Fly
Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami announced that the Iranian version of the RQ-170 which has been manufactured through the reverse engineering of the American UAS which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011, will be unveiled to the public soon. “The construction will finish soon and most of the job has been done now,” General Salami told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. Continue reading
SF Express Starts UAS Delivery Trials in Shanghai
SF Express, a Shanghai-based logistics company, announced that it has recently commenced trial operations. SF Express said that UAS delivery can save labour costs and improve delivery efficiency, as reported by the Beijing News. Continue reading
Deutsche Post DHL Tests UAS Parcel Delivery Across the Rhine
Germany’s express delivery and mail company Deutsche Post DHL is testing a UAS that could be used to deliver urgently needed goods to hard-to-reach places. The small pilotless helicopter flew a package of medicine Monday from a pharmacy in the town of Bonn to the company’s headquarters on the other side of the Rhine River. Continue reading
Tijuana, Mexico to Use Unmanned Aircraft to Aid Public Safety
UAS soon could help Tijuana authorities monitor traffic, evaluate accident scenes, detect landslides and control wildfires. Mayor Jorge Astiazarán said this week that he’s preparing to buy several small, unmanned aircraft for the city, making Tijuana one of the first municipal governments in Mexico to use UAS.
Northrop Grumman RQ-180 – More Stealth, More Efficiency
A large, classified unmanned aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman is now flying—and it demonstrates a major advance in combining stealth and aerodynamic efficiency. Defence and intelligence officials say the secret unmanned aircraft system (UAS), designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, is scheduled to enter production for the U.S. Air Force and could be operational by 2015.
US Forest Service Marijuana-Busting UAS Transfer to Fire Fighting
The U.S. Forest Service’s controversial UAS programme, at first earmarked to spy out illegal marijuana cultivation in California, may have found new life, according to agency documents posted last week by the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Russia’s $3M UAS Inventory Update
Russia’s defence ministry has signed a deal worth over Rb100 million ($3 million) with Kazan-based Eniks for delivery of 34 short-range surveillance unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Continue reading