An armed U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed in a remote area near Bagram Air Field last Tuesday night, military officials have revealed. The $14 million remotely piloted aircraft went down at about 7:10 p.m., according to an Air Force statement issued Wednesday.
Event 38 UAS for El Niño Relief in Peru
Event 38, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles for business and its key Peruvian partner, UAV del Peru, a supplier of unmanned aerial systems and professional services in Peru announced that it has won a bid to supply UAS to the Government of Peru. Under this agreement, the Peruvian government will use Event 38 UAS to assist in disaster relief from anticipated effects of the current El Niño. Continue reading
Amazon’s New Delivery Drone has Range of 15 miles
Amazon has showed off a new prototype drone it hopes to use to deliver small packages to customers in fewer than 30 minutes. Unlike a previous demonstration offered by Amazon that showed packages being carried below the drone, the new video shows the prototype accepting a package into its fuselage before delivery. Continue reading
FAA’s New Safety Campaign : Fly Safe With Your Drone
The FAA says you become part of the U.S. aviation system when you fly your drone in the nation’s airspace. Continue reading
DJI Enters Agriculture Market with $15K Octocopter
China’s SZ DJI Technology Co. is setting its sights on the agriculture industry with the launch of a crop sprayer that will test whether farming is fertile ground for drone technology. Continue reading
Heron 1 Chalks Up 25,000 Flight Hours in Afghanistan
Following this year’s 410th flight on 16 November 2015, the Heron Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which is jointly operated by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Airbus Defence and Space, successfully landed in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, bringing the total number of flight hours it has completed in the country up to 25,000. The occasion was celebrated at Camp Mazar-e-Sharif together with the Luftwaffe.
US Air Force Hires Civilian Pilots for Combat Patrols
The US Air Force has hired civilian defence contractors to fly MQ-9 Reaper drones to help track suspected militants and other targets in global hot spots, a previously undisclosed expansion in the privatization of once-exclusively military functions. Continue reading
Minnesota DoT Testing Drones for Bridge Inspections
“We do underneath rope access inspections,” said Barritt Lovelace, a regional manager for Collins Engineers Inc., an agency headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the country. “Basically, we rock-climb bridges. It’s a lot of fun.” In Duluth recently, Lovelace stood with a host of others below the Blatnik Bridge to participate in a demonstration of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s ongoing study of using drones for bridge inspection purposes.