The US Navy and Northrop are upgrading software designs for the Fire Scout to harden its technology and secure video feeds from intrusion. Continue reading
Syracuse University Gets $230,000 for UAS Research
Six collaborative research groups from the University’s various schools and colleges have been awarded more than $230,000 in state revitalization funding for their projects in unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Projects include energy mapping of buildings, autonomous navigation and the development of regulations and policies to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into communities. An additional $100,000 was also made available to support these projects via shared facilities and capabilities. Continue reading
Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) – Request for Information – Drones for Desert Locust Monitoring
Subsequent to his presentation at the RPAS CivOps 2016 conference, Keith Cressman, Food & Agriculture Organization (FOA) of the United Nations, has requested me to inform the international RPAS community of the current FAO Request for Information (RFI).
France Orders Thales Spyranger Mini UAV
French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has selected Thales’s latest-generation Spy’Ranger mini surveillance and reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to equip the French forces. Continue reading
Fixed-Wing UAS that can Land like a Bird
The very first UAV to perform a perched landing using machine learning algorithms has been developed in partnership with the University of Bristol and BMT Defence Services (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd.
General Atomics Gets $56M MQ-9 Contract for Spain
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $56,656,833 undefinitized contract action order (0034) to an existing basic ordering agreement (FA8620-15-G-4040) for the Spain MQ-9 Exportable Block 5 Procurement program.
A National & Regional Drone Strategy Catalyser
A significant number of countries in the European Union (EU), as well as in countries outside the EU, currently do not have a structure uniting the principal entities [governmental (regulatory & non-regulatory) & industrial (including micro, small & medium-sized companies)] that are part of its national drone community. In most countries, the various stakeholder groups have no formal transversal communication between them and operate in isolation from each other. No national drone association has succeeded in creating a truly federated national approach.
DARPA Announces Endurance Record for Diesel UAV
A DARPA-backed small business effort broke boundaries for long-endurance flight this month by launching a uniquely designed, combustion-powered unmanned aircraft that stayed aloft for more than two days and two nights.