The US Navy and Marine Corps’ RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft system received the official green light for operation Jan. 13, marking a major milestone for the program.
Coyote Flies into Hurricanes for NOAA
Coyote
Raytheon Company is providing its enhanced Coyote Unmanned Air System to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for hurricane tracking and modelling, giving researchers an unprecedented perspective from inside storms that build in the Atlantic Ocean. The Coyote is a small, expendable UAS that can be tube-launched from a host vehicle on the ground or in the air. Continue reading
Canada wants Armed UAS
The Canadian Air Force is moving ahead with its weaponised drone program. The government published the call-out to the defense industry on Friday, asking military contractors to spell out how they would build a Canadian drone fleet. Continue reading
Pentagon Eyes Laser-Armed Drones to Shoot Down Ballistic Missiles
Four years after the Air Force’s missile–zapping Boeing 747 went to its final resting place in the Arizona desert, the Pentagon is thinking anew about airborne lasers that shoot down ballistic missiles. This time, they’d be mounted on smaller, higher-flying drones. Continue reading
US Army Builds Gray Eagle Training Facility
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District teamed with officials and contractors at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, to break ground for the MQ-1C Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System facility construction project Jan. 12. Continue reading
Flexrotor Formation Flying
“We get experience faster by flying aircraft simultaneously,” observes Aerovel’s Tad McGeer about the first dual-Flexrotor flight in midJanuary. “People appreciate the aircraft’s capability” – an exceptional combination of small size, light footprint, VTOL, and long endurance – “Now they ask about reliability. Continue reading
NASA PTERA – Modular Aircraft Flight Test
Aerospace testing can be costly and time consuming but a new modular, subscale remotely piloted aircraft offers NASA researchers more affordable options for developing a wide range of cutting edge aviation and space technologies. Continue reading
Who Owns/Controls the Airspace Below 500 feet AGL?
Before airplanes and drones existed, people owned everything above and below their land—according to the law, their rights extended “to the heavens and down to hell.” But modern aviation changed this definition in a big way. In the early 20th century Congress declared the air a public highway, which limited land rights so that people were not trespassing every time they flew. That public highway has generally been considered 500 feet and above.