Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter could be flying again soon. It has been grounded since September after an aircraft crashed in Belize during a demonstration deployment with U.S. Special Operations Command.
US Navy BAMS to Integrate Air Force SIGINT Sensor into Platform
The Navy programme office in charge of the service’s newest unmanned aerial system is looking to integrate Air Force-centric hardware into that aircraft, as a way to close a critical collection gap in ongoing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.
Shadow Parachutes onto Private Property near Fort Huachuca
A Shadow unmanned aircraft had an equipment emergency last Wednesday morning, causing its recovery parachute to successfully deploy and eventually bring the aircraft down on private property west of Fort Huachuca, according to the installation’s spokeswoman.
President Obama Sends Predators to Libya
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced at a Pentagon news conference yesterday that the US would deploy armed Predator UAS to attack Libya government forces .
‘Long Tail’ Author and 24 Year Old behind DIY Drones
Chris Anderson is founder of DIY Drones, the largest amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicle community on the web with 15,000 members, and of 3D Robotics, the commercial arm that serves the DIY Drones online store – “The Amateur UAV Superstore”. Chris is also editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, and wrote The Long Tail, in 2006. Business Insider published this 4-minute interview with Chris about his DIY Drones activities:
AeroVironment Gets $11.5 Million Order for More Puma Systems and Training Services
AeroVironment has announced that it received a firm-fixed-price contract delivery order valued at $11,500,000 for new digital Puma All Environment (AE) unmanned aircraft systems , initial spares packages and training services on April 11, 2011.
Lockheed Martin Foliage Busting Radar Tests Successful
Lockheed Martin ’s Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar, TRACER, has completed flight testing aboard a Predator B MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial System. TRACER is a dual-band (UHF and VHF) synthetic-aperture radar capable of detecting and geo-locating objects that are buried, camouflaged or concealed under foliage.
New Fixed Wing Platform from MAVinci, Germany
MAVinci, based in Leimen near Heidelberg, Germany, has announced the introduction of SIRIUS II – a fully integrated orthofoto UAS. The system obtains aerial images and calculates orthofotos and three dimensional elevation models out of the image data.