Delair, a supplier of commercial drone solutions, has announced an agreement to acquire the key assets of Airware, a developer of innovative software analytics tools for drone-based data. Continue reading
Airobotics Raises $30M Series D Funding
Israeli automated drone startup Airobotics has announced a $30M Series D round of funding bringing its total capital raised to $101M. Pavilion Capital is leading the round, joining a list of prominent investors, including BlueRun Ventures, Charles River Ventures and OurCrowd, as well as additional private investors. Continue reading
Zipline to Assembe Drones in Rwanda
Zipline,a US-based company that operates the world’s only drone delivery system for urgent medicines such as blood and vaccine is set to unveil a drone assembling plant in Rwanda. Continue reading
AAI Gets $24M USAF Operations Contract
AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a $23,696,816 firm-fixed-price contract fornon-developmental contractor-owned and contractor-operated unmanned aerial systems, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. Continue reading
Russian Owl Drone will Hunt tanks
This owl-shaped drone comes from the Zhukovsky/Gagarin Air Force Academy. It’s not the first such bird-imitating drone from the Academy, which also made a falcon-shaped drone. For greater realism, that falcon drone can play prerecorded falcon sounds. (Beyond Russia, there’s a rich field of drones that look like birds, used for everything from advertising sunscreen to scaring birds away from airports and even spy drones for other militaries.)
DARPA, US Army Test Optionally Manned Helicopter
DARPA and Lockheed have modified an off-the-shelf commercial helicopter to fly itself in typical military missions, including supply runs, medevac, and recon. The next step: Port the MATRIX software over to an actual Army UH-60 Black Hawk, which will fly next year. The long run: Design next-generation scout and assault aircraft to be optionally piloted from the start. Continue reading
SAFIR Consortium to Peform U-Space Drone Demonstrations In Belgium
The SAFIR consortium, a group of 13 public and private organizations, has been selected by Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) to demonstrate integrated Drone Traffic Management for a broad range of drone operations in Belgium. Continue reading
China’s AVIC Trials Venus Solar-Electric UAV
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has successfully conducted the maiden flight of a 20 m wingspan technology demonstrator of the Qi Mingxing (Venus) solar-electric long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the company announced on its Wechat social media account on 26 October. Continue reading