Stony Mountain company, MicroPilot, is celebrated its 20th anniversary last weekend and Howard Loewen hopes someday — maybe within the next five years — his company might become an overnight success. MicroPilot makes autopilot technology — autonomous flight operating systems — for unmanned aerial vehicles.
UK Launches Inquiry into Civil Use of Drones
The UK’s House of Lords is holding an enquiry into the civil use of drones, to determine whether the conditions are right “for the industry to take off”. In a call for submissions, aimed at gathering expert written and oral evidence as a precursor to its final report in March 2015, the Lords’ EU subcommittee on the internal market, infrastructure and employment said that the increased use of drones throws up “a multitude of questions”.
Details of Ukraine UAV Requirement Revealed
A contract for leased unmanned air vehicle (UAV) services in support of the security mission in Ukraine is expected to be awarded imminently, an industry source reveals. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently issued a solicitation for bids which closed on Friday, 25 July. It stipulates the requirement for a turnkey UAV solution for deployment in the conflicted east of the country.
Google Lease for Titan Aerospace Plant Approved
Officials are close to finalizing a deal for the state to appropriate nearly $1 million to Moriarty to run water and sewer lines to property leased by Google for an eventual 60,000-square-foot building where Titan Aerospace will produce its solar-powered drones. The Moriarty City Council will hold a special meeting Friday to consider an ordinance that would finalize a deal among the city, the state Economic Development Department and Google to construct infrastructure to the Moriarty Municipal Airport. Continue reading
NOAA Tests UAS for Wildlife Surveys and Environmental Research in Hawaii
NOAA scientists are testing two types of unmanned aircraft this summer to survey a variety of rare and endangered species, monitor remote marine areas, locate marine debris for removal and study fragile ecological features in the vast Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Simlat Delivers Training & Simulation Systems to Prioria Robotics Maveric UAS
Simlat Ltd. was selected to provide an advanced integrated UAS Simulation and Training System to Prioria’s Maveric Small UAS platform. The simulator was integrated and customized to the Maveric control station and includes high-fidelity visuals, environment and scenarios.
South African Calls them RPAS
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided its quest to legalise unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in South Africa will see them called remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
Study Projects UAS Spending to Double by Fiscal 2024
Spending on unmanned aerial vehicles is expected to “nearly double over the next decade,” according to the executive summary of a new study by the Teal Group. The study, which asserts that “enemy air defense is basically non-existent except in the crudest sense, small arms fire,” projects “it is quite possible that [UAVs] will become ubiquitous over the next decade as a standard means of reconnaissance for infantry squads.”