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UPS has announced a groundbreaking new logistics service to deliver medical samples via unmanned drones through a collaboration with Matternet, a leader in autonomous drone technology. The program is taking place at WakeMed’s flagship hospital and campus in the Raleigh, N.C., metropolitan area, with oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration and North Carolina Department of Transportation. Continue reading
France has begun arming its General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a weapon integration contract awarded on 22 March. Continue reading
LG-1K, developed by Logistic Gliders Inc under contract with DARPA and the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, is meant to be a very low-cost drone capable of being released from fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter. The plywood and aluminum drone is 10.4 feet long with a 23=foot wingspan. The LG-1K can carry up to 700 lb.s of supplies. It’s now flown twelve missions demonstrating its ability to glide—in some cases autonomously—to a landing zone with GPS precision. Continue reading
Turkish Aerospace Industries has released video of the first flight of its new twin-engine medium-altitude ANKA-AKSUNGUR MALE unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in flight. Continue reading
ABSI Aerospace and Defense has announced SecondSky, an integrated virtual training environment that incorporates live air traffic controllers, realistic airspace management, and high-fidelity virtual UAS models utilizing X-Plane technology. Continue reading
Sabrewing Aircraft Company, Inc. and the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI), the Unangan (Aleut) Tribe of Native Alaskans, located on St. Paul and St. George, Pribilof Islands, jointly announced that they have signed a history-making agreement for Sabrewing to provide a mix of up to ten aircraft – featuring both the 800-pound-payload “Rhaegal” and the 4400-pound-payload “Wyvern” aircraft. Continue reading
Paving the way for future drone traffic increase, SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) is supporting the European Commission U-space initiative by researching and developing new services for safe, efficient and secure access to airspace of a large number of drones. Continue reading
Drone flies over the apple orchard on the horticulture farm at Penn State’s Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs
A system that helps tree-fruit growers avoid frost damage to their crops by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground-based robots, could be on the horizon, thanks to Penn State researchers, supported by funding from the National Science Foundation. Continue reading