General Atomics wants it to be so easy to manage drones that, using the company’s Heresy multi-mission control (MMC) software, one operator can oversee a half-dozen large UAS, assigning tasks and monitoring statuses from a single laptop. Continue reading
Drone Inspection of Offshore Wind Turbines – Deepwater Wind – Block Island
Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, who began commercial operation of the first U.S. offshore wind farm in 2016, recently authorized deployments of drone technology to capture high resolution data of all five of its offshore wind platforms just off Block Island. Continue reading
Drone Net Promises Cost-Effective Security
Someday soon, a “Drone Net” now under development at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University could provide a cost-effective way to protect small airports, university and corporate campuses, farms or other operations from irresponsible drone operators. Continue reading
DroneSense–FLIR Edition Drone Flight Control and Management Software Platform
FLIR Systems, Inc. has announced the DroneSense–FLIR Edition, a drone flight management software platform designed for public safety applications. FLIR announced a strategic investment in DroneSense, an Austin, Texas-based unmanned aircraft system (UAS) software platform maker, in April 2018 and this is the first product under that collaboration. Continue reading
China Tests World’s Largest Cargo Drone
Developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Electronics Technology and Chinese delivery company SF Express, the large commercial drone, known as Feihong-98 (FH-98), made a successful test flight at Baotou test site in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Tuesday. Continue reading
Turkey Orders 22 More Anka UAVs
Turkey’s military and security forces will receive 22 more Anka unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and special purpose tactical wheeled armoured vehicles (TTZAs), local media reported a few days after the meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSIK) of the Turkish Defense Industries Directorate (SSB) on 10 October. Continue reading
Microwave Beams Could Power UAS
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are developing technology that could see the drones powered by microwave beams from the ground, opening up the possibility of continuous flight. Continue reading
Why Was This Plane Invulnerable: The SR-71 Blackbird
The Cold War locked the United States and Soviet Union into a tense struggle for global influence and control. The first purpose-built American spy plane to fly over the Soviet Union was the Lockheed U-2. Neither fast nor stealthy, the U-2’s tactical advantage was that it could supposedly fly above soviet radar and air defenses. Continue reading



