The Philippines Department of National Defense (DND) is inviting bidders who can supply the military with 6 sets of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to expand its surveillance and reconnaisance capabilities. Continue reading
China Deploys UAS to Monitor Wild Yaks
China is using UAS to monitor rare herds of wild yaks in a remote mountain region. Scientists use the unmanned aircraft to calculate the number of yaks in the mountain wilderness of Xinjiang province, and to collect data about their habitat, reports official news agency Xinhua.
In November, a UAS performed four flights, taking photos of the yaks, the areas where they live and also collecting meteorological information, the agency says. Continue reading
DJI Phantom + Sony RX 100 II Crashes into Icelandic Ocean
In the days before my trip to Iceland, I had the chance to play with the DJI Phantom, an affordable, out-of-the-box quadcopter for budding aerial videographers. Continue reading
UAS Views of Kiev Protests
This video was filmed on Saturday shows a great view of the massive gathering in Kiev’s Independence Square. Some 200,000 people have rallied in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign a landmark EU deal. Continue reading
UVS International Announces 2014 Board of Directors
The association’s General Assembly for 2013 took place at the Royal Military Academy, in Brussels, Belgium on 11 December 2013 and consensually elected UVS International’s Board of Directors (BoD) for 2014. The BoD is now structured as follows: Continue reading
Heron Crashes in Coconut Grove in India
A Heron unmanned aircraft system (UAS) of the Indian Naval Air Station (INS) Parundu crashed into a coconut grove at Usilankattuvalasai in Ramanathapuram district, in Tamil Nadu, close to a residential area, while returning to base after completing its routine surveillance operation on Friday. Continue reading
US Army Vehicle-Mounted Laser Successfully Demonstrated Against UAS and Other Targets
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command for the first time used a vehicle mounted high energy laser to successfully engage more than 90 mortar rounds and several unmanned aircraft systems in flight. Continue reading
Android Smartphone Used to Create SmartCopter – Low-Cost Autonomous UAS
Researchers are using a smartphone as the brains behind a small, inexpensive UAS – the phone enables it to find its way around enclosed indoor spaces without using GPS or a remote guide. Although it’s still at an early stage, the so-called SmartCopter could eventually make it safer and cheaper to scout out disaster scenes before human responders plunge in. Continue reading