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P-268, the Last USAF MQ-1 Predator, at General Atomics' Gray Butte Flight Operation Facility in Palmdale, California
The U.S. Air Force accepted MQ-1 Predator tail number 268, the last manufactured for the service, in a ceremony March 3 at General Atomics’ Gray Butte Aeronautical Systems’ Flight Ops Facility. Col. James Beissner, Air Combat Command’s Chief Irregular Warfare Division, accepted the aircraft on behalf of the Air Force in front of a crowd of more than 800.
Part of a series demonstrating what skills can be acquired during an Army career, the first episode compares the skills of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Operator and those of a civilian Skycam Operator during an NCAA football game. This clip was posted on YouTube and the full series can be seen here.
Sagetech Transponder
Kansas State University at Salina’s unmanned aircraft programme is the first to use the XPS-TR transponder developed by Sagetech Corporation, which has shattered size records with a footprint smaller than that of a standard business card.
WinterGreen Research announces that it has a new study on homeland security unmanned aircraft systems . Markets valued at $84 million in 2010 are forecast to reach $2.3 billion dollars, worldwide by 2017. The 2011 study has 672 pages and 216 tables and figures. Homeland_UAS_Abstract.pdf
The US Army has awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., a $335,504,000 fixed-price-incentive-fee contract on February 28th. The award provides for the purchase of system hardware applicable to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aircraft System.
A new contender has emerged for Finland’s Ministry of Defence requirement for up to 45 UAS that we reported in January. Avartek, a Finnish aerial target manufacturer, has teamed up with Innocon (Israel) to offer the Micro Falcon under the name AT-11.
UAS has been the most dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry this decade, according to a report just issued by the Teal Group. The 2011 market study estimates that UAS spending will almost double over the next decade from current worldwide UAS expenditures of $5.9 billion annually to $11.3 billion, totalling just over $94 billion in the next ten years.
The UK Ministry of Defence issued a contract notification last month, with an estimated value of between £10 million ($16.4 million) and £20 million, for a Nano UAS to be deployed urgently in Afghanistan.