Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), successfully conducted a fully autonomous resupply, reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition demonstration using its Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) unmanned ground vehicle, K-MAX unmanned helicopter and Gyrocam optical sensor. Continue reading
USS Theodore Roosevelt Conducts Combined Manned, Unmanned Operations
The US Navy’s unmanned X-47B returned to carrier operations aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Aug. 17 and completed a series of tests, operating safely and seamlessly with manned aircraft. Building on lessons learned from its first test period aboard TR in November 2013, the X-47B team is now focused on perfecting deck operations and performing maneuvers with manned aircraft in the flight pattern.
China Issues First UAS Pilot Licenses
Song Hong, an experienced UAS operator in Beijing, is anxiously waiting for his license. Song and 45 others, having passed theoretical exams and flight tests, are ready to become China’s first batch of certificated flyers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Continue reading
Centaur OPV Creates Interest in Europe
Aurora Flight Sciences is close to securing up to three customers in Europe, plus one in the U.S., for its Centaur optionally piloted aircraft (OPA), which is based on the Diamond DA42 twin-engine tourer, the company told AIN. The American company has been marketing the Centaur in the U.S. as a versatile, low-cost airborne sensing platform for two years but only recently expanded the effort to Europe.
Northrop Grumman Gets $240M Sensor Upgrade Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, has been awarded a $240,653,315 primarily firm-fixed-price modification (PZ0001) for FA8620-13-C-3018 for three Block 30M RQ-4B Global Hawk air vehicles, each containing an Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite and an Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP), plus two additional ASIP sensors as retrofit kits.
VertiKUL Explores Practicalities of Delivery UAS
Researchers at KU Leuven, in Belgium, have been working on some of the technical problems to be solved for delivery by UAS to become practical, including landing pads, cargo compartments, and range extension.Take-offs and landings are probably going to be the trickiest part of this whole delivery drone business, and a landing pad is likely a necessity. Continue reading
Global Hawk Completes 100th Operational Mission in Southwest Asia
The U.S. Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, a wide area surveillance unmanned aircraft system, has just completed its 100th operational mission in Southwest Asia and recently moved into the Pacific region.
Vega to Build New UAS for Russian Defence Ministry
Russian company Vega is designing a new UAS of up to 200 kg for the Defence Ministry and is planning to get it built by 2016, the company’s official announced.