Military UAVs – Page 313
-
News
Ready for launch
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Events taking place 10,000km (6,200 miles) apart could prove pivotal to the long-awaited deployment by military forces of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). US Navy officials now believe that VTOLUAV technology is mature enough for the service to begin equipping its warships ...
-
News
DARPA and Frontier develop long endurance UAV rotorcraft
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has teamed with Frontier Systems to flight test a revolutionary unmanned helicopter that can stay airborne for as long as 62h and achieve an unrefuelled maximum range of 8,550km (4,600nm). The newly revealed long endurance unmanned helicopter and the rival Boeing ...
-
News
Canada may replace Germany for NATO project
Technical problems that have dogged development of the Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Seamos vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTOL UAV) could force Project Group 35 of the NATO Naval Armaments Group to drop Germany from the Maritime UAV International Technology Demonstrator Programme (ITDP). Other nations involved include the ...
-
News
Guardian crashes as rival misses deadline
Bombardier's CL-327 Guardian vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTOLUAV) crashed on 10 June at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, after completing a flight test programme for the US Department of Defense (DoD). The Guardian is believed to be a total loss. Bombardier had completed the 50h of ...
-
News
Hydraulic loss spoils Global Hawk UAV test
Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical (TRA) is investigating a hydraulic failure which marred the otherwise successful third flight of the Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The aircraft lost hydraulic pressure on approach to the runway at Edwards AFB, California, after the 5h 22min flight on 30 May. The landing gear ...
-
News
Kaman to demonstrate Magic Lantern variant
Kaman Aerospace is to demonstrate a variant of its Magic Lantern mine detection system using a K-MAX helicopter to play the role of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as part of a mine countermeasures advanced concept technology demonstration. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is sponsoring the $2 million ...
-
News
ASRAAM hit
Matra BAe Dynamics has carried out a test engagement with its Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) using the imaging infrared seeker's aim point selection capability for the first time. The test resulted in the missile, fired from a Lockheed Martin F-16, successfully hitting the QF-4 target drone. The missile ...
-
News
Raytheon reveals UCAV concept
Raytheon Systems has teamed with its sister company, Raytheon Aircraft, and unmanned air vehicle specialists Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical and Aurora Flight Sciences to compete for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) advanced technology demonstration programme. The team also includes GDE Systems, Honeywell and Primex. ...
-
News
Turkey searches for new UAV suppliers
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Turkey is expected to launch international competitions for two separate new unmanned air vehicle (UAV) procurements, possibly as early as the end of this year, according to US and Turkish sources. The advanced drones would be used to supplement the General Atomics Gnat 750 UAV ...
-
News
K-Max firefighter
The Royal Malaysian Air Force has deployed a Kaman K-MAX helicopter to help tackle forest fires in the Kuantan region, on the east coast. The K-MAX has dropped more than 2.65 million litres of water since operations began in mid-April. Source: Flight International
-
News
Global Hawk flies second mission
THE Global Hawk reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle has flown for a second time at Edwards AFB, California, performing what the company describes as a "text book" mission lasting 2h 24min. The aircraft reached 41,000ft (12,500m) during the sortie, which also included the successful hand-off of command and control via ...
-
News
US Navy nears decision on tactical UAV requirement
Ramon Lopez/YUMA The US Navy will decide in June or early July whether to persevere with the Alliant Techsystems Outrider unmanned air vehicle (UAV) or switch to a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft for its tactical UAV requirement. The USN's plans to buy the fixed wing Outrider UAV, along ...
-
News
Autonomous attacker
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Four US manufacturers have embarked on a programme to determine. by 2005, whether unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) have the potential to complement, and ultimately compete against, manned strike aircraft. If successful, UCAVs could become operational as early as 2015, in time to help offset the expected ...
-
News
Titan 3B sends NRO satellite
The second Lockheed Martin Titan 3B Centaur booster, the USA's most powerful unmanned booster, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 9 May, carrying a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite into orbit. The payload is thought to be a signals intelligence satellite operating from geostationary orbit. The US Air ...
-
News
Laser composite structures inspection 'will cut JSF costs'
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin has begun construction of a laser ultrasonics centre which is expected to cut the cost of inspecting composite structures by as much as 90%. The centre is due to be operational by the end of the year, when it will be used to inspect ...
-
News
Smiths prepares AV-8B COTS
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Smiths Industries is preparing to deliver the first equipment for an open systems avionics demonstration programme. This will place it at the leading edge of developments in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, where the military is set to benefit from the latest advances in computing. Under the ...
-
News
SAIC's VTOL UAV prototype crashes
SAIC's bid for the US Navy's vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) project has been dealt another blow by the crash of its prototype. The SAIC Vigilante air vehicle crashed on 20 April during a test flight at a small airfield in Virginia. The composite ...
-
News
US Army launches initiatives aimed at improving missile arsenal
Douglas Barrie/LONDON The US Army has launched a raft of weapons initiatives aimed at improving its short-range air-defence and air-launched anti-armour guided weapons, as well as extended-range high-precision guided munitions. The US Army Aviation and Missile Command has programmes under way to develop improved variants and potential successors ...
-
News
Japan promotes unmanned helicopters for crop dusting
Paul Lewis/GIFU, JAPAN Two Japanese aerospace manufacturers have begun to promote the commercial use of unmanned helicopters for agricultural crop dusting and airborne surveillance missions. Kawada Industries has developed the RoboCopter 300 based on the Schweizer 300CB and had accumulated 40h of flight time by mid-April. The company hopes ...
-
News
Pentagon selects UCAV contractors
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has officially selected Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Systems to conduct initial studies on an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV). The four firms, already identified as the only US groups capable of leading the project, will now undertake initial 10-month ...