Northrop Grumman is focusing efforts to save the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft programme on reversing the U.S. Air Force’s intent to retire its young fleet of multi-sensor RQ-4B Block 30s in favour of keeping in service the aircraft they were intended to replace, the Lockheed U-2. Continue reading
X-47B Performs First Ever Carrier Touch-and-Go
The Navy’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has begun touch-and-go landing operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 17. Continue reading
Frost & Sullivan Report on Israel’s UAS Exports
Israeli exports of unmanned aircraft over the last eight years totaled 4.62 billion USD and are expected to grow at 5-10% per year until 2020, according to a new study release by the International consulting firm of Frost & Sullivan. Continue reading
Geologists in Norway Deploy UAS in Search for Oil
Researchers at Centre for integrated petroleum research (CIPR), a joint venture between the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research, have found a new preferred method – using UAS to map new oil reserves from the air. Continue reading
Smartphone App for Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology – NASA Dryden Video
Flights tests of a smartphone-assisted automatic ground collision avoidance system at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center consistently commanded evasive manoeuvres when it sensed that the unmanned test aircraft was getting too close to mountainous terrain. Continue reading
China’s Lijian “Sharp Sword” UCAV Spotted Taxiing
China’s first jet-powered stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), the Lijian or “Sharp Sword,” was recently spotted undergoing taxiing tests in China. Continue reading
Russian Bears to be Protected by UAS
Unmanned aircraft systems are to be tested at a nature reserve on Russia’s Pacific coast this summer to help track wildlife and crack down on poachers, an official from the reserve said . Continue reading
Triton Prepares for Flight Trials
Ahead of its first flight, the U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton has performed high-speed taxi tests at Northrop’s Palmdale, California, facility after the resolution of issues that delayed flight testing and pushed back the start of production by a year. Continue reading