About 100 U.S. troops have deployed to the West African country of Niger to help establish a drone base for surveillance missions, in the latest step by the United States to aid French forces battling Islamic militants in neighbouring Mali.
GA-ASI Announces Procurement of First Predator XP System
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has announced the procurement of its first Predator XP RPA system by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Predator XP is an updated version of the company’s flagship Predator RPA that has been licensed by the U.S. Government for sale to a broader customer base, including countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
al-Qaeda Drone Dodging Tip Sheet Found in Mali
After years of al Qaeda commanders and operators hearing the final whistle of a drone strike seconds before meeting their end, the terror group has developed a bag of tricks for dodging death from above, according to documents recently recovered by a Western news organization.
Insitu Awarded Special Forces Contract for ScanEagle
Insitu Inc. has announced that the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded the company a Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MEUAS) Intelligence Gathering, Target Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Services contract for 26 months through Feb. 28, 2015.
Long-Endurance UAS Suffer from Lack of Customer Support
AeroVironment‘s Global Observer was being developed as a JCTD, funded by no fewer than six U.S. government agencies, and was to fly with the Air Force’s Joint Aerial Layer Network (JALN) payload, designed to allow multiple tactical communications systems to talk to one another and connect to distant command centers. AeroVironment says it is still talking to its customers.
World’s First Practical Civilian Jetpack on Sale for $100K
The Martin Jetpack, which was showcased at IDEX, is a collaboration between Emirates Advanced Research and Technology Holding (Earth), Khalifa University and the New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft Company. Continue reading
Global Hawk Block 40 Hit by US Budget Cuts
In early talks on the forthcoming fiscal 2014 budget request, the U.S. Air Force is proposing to close the book on Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk franchise, canceling the ground surveillance variant. Continue reading
Israeli UAS Downed by Surface-to-Air Missile Fired from Syria
Although the event was not reported by Syria’s official news agency SANA, several Syrian and Israeli news outlets have been reporting that an Israeli UAS was downed near the Syrian border with Lebanon. Continue reading