The South Korean government has announced its plan to spend 260 billion won ($247.1 million) over the next eight years to commercialize two advanced models of Korean-made tilt-rotor UAS, high-speed unmanned aerial vehicles that the government is looking to export. Continue reading
DJI Introduces Phantom 2 Vision+
DJI has announced the release of the DJI Phantom 2 Vision+, the world’s first flying camera that captures stabilized HD video out of the box. The DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ features a built-in camera that shoots 1080p video at 30 frame-per-second (fps) and takes 14-megapixel pictures. The camera is mounted to a gimbal, an electronic stabilizer, ensuring the steadiness of the camera on 3 axes – pitch, roll and yaw – regardless of wind conditions or flight speed. Continue reading
Injured Triathlete in Australia – UAV Operator “Not Certified”
A competitor in the Endure Batavia Triathlon in Geraldton was taken to hospital after an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) , fell from the sky hitting her on the head. The competitor, Raija Ogden was heading into her second lap of the run leg of the race on the Foreshore when the incident occurred. The remote-controlled copter struck her head and she fell to the ground.
US Navy Unveils New Programme to Create Autonomous UAS
The U.S. Navy has unveiled a five-year, $100 million programme to create unmanned helicopters capable of resupplying troops and rescuing injured soldiers from the battlefield. Continue reading
UK Team To Train on Triton
Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is dispatching a team to train on Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton UAS in the run-up to a possible decision next year on whether to re-establish a maritime patrol capability. Responding to a parliamentary question April 3, the government said that four personnel are “scheduled to train on the MQ-4C Triton during June and August, 2014.”
New Lycoming Multi-Fuel Engine Soars Past 10,000 Flight Hours
AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, and Lycoming Engines, a division of Avco Corporation, announced today that Lycoming’s new EL-005 multi-fuel engine has surpassed 10,000 deployed flight hours with the Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) in service of U.S. Department of Defense customers in Afghanistan. Continue reading
French Unit May Test Watchkeepeer in Afghanistan
Great Britain plans to send the Watchkeeper to Afghanistan this year, possibly to serve with a French Army unit working with the British Army team flying the tactical UAS, a British officer said on April 3 at a high-level defence conference in Paris by the Franco-British Council. Continue reading
US Navy Orders Five MQ-8C Fire Scouts for $44M
Northrop Grumman Corp. will build five long-range unmanned helicopters for operation from destroyers and other surface warships under terms of a $43.8 million U.S. Navy contract announced last week.