October 30, 2005

UAV research at NDSU

'Research at NDSU has the potential to revolutionize the efficiency of the teams operating unmanned aerial vehicles in the military. Verlin Hinsz, a professor of psychology, facilitates the research. Hinsz wrote a proposal in 2003 called “Enhancing Coordination and...
Posted by Darren

October 28, 2005

The Snark - VTOL UAV

Gizmag has a great article on The Snark - a VTOL UAV: 'Meet the Snark – an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle of immense capability that demonstrates just how far the breed has come in such a short period of...
Posted by Darren

Predator's Success Ups Procurement And Development

'With the MQ-1 Predator logging significant hours in counterinsurgency operations and earning troop support, the Air Force wants to buy more of the aircraft and develop the next-generation variant. Predators worldwide are logging 4,000 hours a month in support...
Posted by Darren

October 27, 2005

Very Smart UAVs

'UAVs are being equipped with more powerful sensors in order to deal with the special demands of the fighting in Iraq. The U.S. Air Force is trying out a sniper detection system mounted on low flying UAVs. This consists...
Posted by Darren

SAS 'model aircraft' will look into caves

'The SAS is to buy the military equivalent of a model aeroplane that can be carried in a rucksack to help fight insurgents in the hills of Afghanistan. Troopers from the regiment have carried out trials on a 10lb...
Posted by Darren

GoldenEye-50 Performs First High-Speed Coordinated Banked Turns

Aurora Flight Sciences’ GoldenEye-50 unmanned aerial system (UAS) performed its first high-speed, coordinated banked turns during a recent envelope expansion flight. The turns demonstrate the GoldenEye-50’s ability to provide the high-speed manoeuvrability that sets it apart from other unmanned...
Posted by Darren

Rolls-Royce to Develop Engine For Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

'U.S. Senator Evan Bayh today announced that he helped secure $9 million for Rolls Royce to develop an engine for the upgraded Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle, which will carry out critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities. The...
Posted by Darren

U.S. Air Force Working On Stealthier Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Powered By Fuel Cells

'Future Air Force leaders here are working to produce a stealthier unmanned aerial vehicle powered by an alternative energy source. The research project into fuel cells and hydrogen storage materials started about 10 years ago as a collaboration between...
Posted by Darren

DARPA Micro Air Vehicle Passes Key Milestone Towards Future Combat System Class I UAV

The Future Combat Systems (FCS) program has passed a significant milestone in its progress toward selecting a Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system. The announcement was made today by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Science Applications International Corporation...
Posted by Darren

UK SAS tests mini UAV

'The UK's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment has carried out trials of the Mission Technologies BUSTER (Backpack Unmanned Surveillance Targeting and Enhanced Reconnaissance) small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ahead of an enhanced deployment of UK special forces personnel to...
Posted by Darren

Nanobots: Guarding giants with tiny protectors

'Researchers working with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have developed a way to build extremely small sensors using nanorobot fabrication. This new process, created by Harold Szu and James Buss of ONR and implemented by Xi Ning of...
Posted by Darren

Special Israeli team will probe UAV crash

'A special investigation team from Israel will arrive in Sri Lanka next week to investigate the engine trouble that caused the Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to crash in a LTTE-held area. Sri Lankan Air Force Chief Donald...
Posted by Darren

Prospector UAV: Huntsville firm developing UAVs

'Long known for its work on Apollo rockets and space stations, a Huntsville company is adding another aerospace expertise to its resume. Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. is developing a lightweight, quick response unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, for the...
Posted by Darren

Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) - The Shrinking of UAVs

Gizmag has an excellent piece on the shrinking of UAVs - MAVs (micro air vehicles): 'As the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have unfolded, one of the new stars in the theatre of battle has been the Unmanned Aerial...
Posted by Darren

Debris of Sri Lankan UAV Crash removed

'The debris of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of the Sri Lanka Air Force which fell into the LTTE held area in the North of Vavuniya on Wednesday were removed by LTTE cadres in Vanni, sources said. According to...
Posted by Darren

Media speculation on cause of UAV crash rebuffed

'Media reports that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belonging to Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) that came down in Vanni on 19 October was downed either by radar-guided gun or by an air-borne attack by the Liberation Tigers were...
Posted by Darren

Sri Lankan UAV comes down in Vanni

'An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) launched from the Joseph camp in Vavuniya for surveillance mission into the Liberation Tigers controlled area has come down in Vanni Wednesday afternoon, sources in Kilinochchi said. A UAV was seen coming down in...
Posted by Darren

UAV Market to Top $13 Billion by 2014

SpaceWar reports that there is massive growth in the UAV market in the coming years: 'The Market for UAV Reconnaissance Systems – including air vehicles, ground control equipment and payloads – is expected to be worth $13.6 billion through...
Posted by Darren

UAV Conference

Rotorhub reports on the UAV Conference in Washington: 'Quad A (US Army Aviation Association of America) kicked off its first ever UAV conference here with about 400 people gathered to hear about the synergy developing between Army aviation and...
Posted by Darren

October 20, 2005

Robotic Space Missions Will Be Multi-tiered

'Intelligent, science-driven robotic space missions are a decade or two in the future, they will be international, and they will have significant corporate and private sponsorship. Remote-sensing orbiters, probes, landers and rovers are returning astonishing discoveries about our solar...
Posted by Darren

DARPA Micro Air Vehicle Passes Key Milestone Towards Future Combat System Class

'The Future Combat Systems (FCS) program has passed a significant milestone in its progress toward selecting a Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system. The announcement was made today by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Science Applications International Corporation...
Posted by Darren

GoldenEye-50 Performs First High-Speed, Coordinated Banked Turns

Aurora Flight Sciences’ GoldenEye-50 unmanned aerial system (UAS) performed its first high-speed, coordinated banked turns during recent envelope expansion flight. The turns demonstrate the GoldenEye-50’s ability to provide the high-speed maneuverability that sets it apart from other unmanned VTOL...
Posted by Darren

Sri Lankan UAV comes down in Vanni

'An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) launched from the Joseph camp in Vavuniya for surveillance mission into the Liberation Tigers controlled area has come down in Vanni Wednesday afternoon, sources in Kilinochchi said. A UAV was seen coming down in...
Posted by Darren

October 18, 2005

US Air Force working on stealthier UAV powered by an alternative energy source

'Future Air Force leaders here are working to produce a stealthier unmanned aerial vehicle powered by an alternative energy source. The research project into fuel cells and hydrogen storage materials started about 10 years ago as a collaboration between...
Posted by Darren

Handheld controls urban UAV flock

'A system enabling a soldier to control multiple dissimilar unmanned air vehicles and receive real-time surveillance data on demand, using a handheld computer, has been demonstrated by a team led by Northrop Grumman. The 22 September demonstration involved four...
Posted by Darren

STARA Technologies Demos UAV Precision Airdrop Capabilities For US Military

'At the request of the United States Army, STARA Technologies will demonstrate its patented miniature guided parachute technology at the Precision Airdrop Technology Conference and Demonstration at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. On October 17th...
Posted by Darren

US Army starts using 21 inch wingspan UAV in Iraq

'The Army recently began using an unmanned aerial vehicle that is small enough to carry in a backpack for surveillance and intelligence gathering in Iraq. The 21-inch long Tactical Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has a wingspan of 21 inches....
Posted by Darren

October 17, 2005

'Robots' will pilot unmanned warplanes for RAF

'RAF combat pilots will be replaced by unmanned robotic aircraft in the coming years, a senior airforce commander predicted yesterday. But Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge warned that if ministers try to use technical advances to impose more...
Posted by Darren

Carolina Unmanned Vehicles Contract for a New Aerostat System

'Carolina Unmanned Vehicles, Inc. (CUV), Raleigh North Carolina, announces a contract for a new version of the Helikite Elevated Platform (HEP) with Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin...
Posted by Darren

Why Scout Helicopter Pilots Love UAVs

'One thing American combat troops can’t get enough of is UAVs. So many of them have been distributed to combat units that commanders are uneasy if they don’t have one or more of them up there, keeping a real-time...
Posted by Darren

Silver Fox mini-UAV flown with CDL Systems

A Canadian Forces’ Silver Fox mini-UAV was flown with the CDL Systems Ltd. VCS-4586 software on 21 September 2005, in a demonstration to the Department of National Defence UAV working group in Suffield Alberta. The VCS is ground control...
Posted by Darren

NASA's Experimental Sailplane Soars Like a Bird

'With the graceful flight of hawks and eagles in mind, NASA aerospace engineer Michael Allen recently hand-launched a 15-pound motorized model sailplane over the Southern California desert. He was hoping it would catch plumes of rising air called thermals....
Posted by Darren

EADS reconnoitres UAV combat technology

'Studies will lay groundwork for fully capable UCAV system to be introduced by 2025 EADS Military Aircraft has launched studies of an unmanned reconnaissance air vehicle (URAV) demonstrator to support its “modular approach” to acquiring technology for an unmanned...
Posted by Darren

Rolls-Royce to Develop Engine For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

U.S. Senator Evan Bayh today announced that he helped secure $9 million for Rolls Royce to develop an engine for the upgraded Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle, which will carry out critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities. The...
Posted by Darren

UAV conference - Albuquerque

'About 300 people from across the U.S. and at least two foreign countries will descend upon Albuquerque next week for the seventh annual Technical Analysis and Applications Center (TAAC) UAV conference. The four-day conference, sponsored by New Mexico State...
Posted by Darren

Air Force testing regional effectiveness of Weatherscout UAV

'There's a new airplane that may be flying into typhoons in our area of the Pacific...that's if the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC) decides that the Weatherscout unmanned aerial vehicle is right for Guam. The Weatherscout...
Posted by Darren

STARA Technologies Demonstrates UAV Precision Airdrop Capabilities for the US Military

At the request of the United States Army, STARA Technologies, Inc. will demonstrate its patented miniature guided parachute technology at the Precision Airdrop Technology Conference and Demonstration at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. On October...
Posted by Darren

October 12, 2005

Northrop Grumman Demonstrates Autonomous Real-Time Surveillance System for Urban Battle Zones

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has successfully led the first demonstration of a system that autonomously controls low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver real-time surveillance data to U.S. military forces in urban battle zones. The flight exercise showed that...
Posted by Darren

October 08, 2005

NASA Experiment Explores Using Thermals to Extend UAV Endurance

'With the graceful flight of hawks and eagles in mind, NASA aerospace engineer Michael Allen hand-launched a lightweight motorized model sailplane over the Southern California desert recently, hoping it would catch plumes of rising air called thermals. It did...
Posted by Darren

L-3 Announces $17.4M Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft Contract, to include comms with UAVs

'L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) announced today that its Communication Systems-West (L-3 CS-West) and Communication Systems-East (L-3 CS-East) divisions have been awarded contracts by The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) for the P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program. The initial contracts...
Posted by Darren

DARPA sets nano-UAV challenge

'US defence research agency wants to develop air vehicle small enough to fly inside caves and tunnels The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to develop and demonstrate unmanned air vehicles small enough to operate inside caves...
Posted by Darren

Why UAVs are Getting Smarter

'The U.S. Air Force has successfully tested software that allows one pilot to control up to four MQ-1 Predator UAVs. This makes Predator operations more efficient, and cheaper. It also helps deal with a problem the air force created...
Posted by Darren

Predator-B UAV to Patrol US Borders

'General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft and high resolution surveillance and radar imaging systems, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today unveiled the CBP's first procurement unmanned aircraft system (UAS), a...
Posted by Darren

UAVs Replacing Spy Satellites

'UAVs are starting to replace spy satellites in the major espionage agencies. The CIA has long had its own fleet of Predator UAVs, and now the NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyses stuff, makes maps, and the like) and...
Posted by Darren

Dragon Eye UAV Flies High to Maximize Surveillance

'Marines and Sailors from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, use the Marine Corps Dragon Eye, the smallest functioning unmanned aerial vehicle, in an effort to minimize friendly casualties and maximize surveillance during missions...
Posted by Darren

AirScooter Corporation Reports Progress on Its Electric E70 and Gas Powered G70 Unmanned Air Vehicles

'AirScooter Corporation (OTC:ASCO - News), an innovator of new air vehicle concepts, announced that it has completed an electric powered AirScooter(TM) UAV prototype for flight testing. The electric E70 is based on the company's high-performance gasoline engine G70 platform....
Posted by Darren

October 07, 2005

Taiwan Coast Guard to use UAVs for border patrol

'The Coast Guard Administration (Taiwan) has proposed deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over the disputed Pratas Islands beginning in 2007 to boost the nation's capability to gather intelligence and conduct surveillance and reconnaissance over its territory. CGA Minister Shi...
Posted by Darren

October 05, 2005

Northrop Grumman Accepts First Production Unit of New Global Hawk Sensor Suite

Northrop Grumman Corporation has completed acceptance testing of the first production version of a new integrated sensor suite that will enhance imaging capability for the U.S. Air Force. The milestone clears the way for the company to begin installing...
Posted by Darren