Military UAVs – Page 315
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A smarter attacker
Allan Winn/DUBAI Ever since the then-Hughes AH-64 Apache entered service with the US Army in 1984, it has been the benchmark against which other combat helicopters are measured. Since then, it has undergone two marque-name changes (first to McDonnell Douglas, then, more recently, to Boeing) and become the most prolific ...
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Giant leaps for Deltas
Tim Furniss/CAPE CANAVERAL Boeing is preparing launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the first launch of the Delta III booster in June. The company is also expecting an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract from the US Air Force in June to start development of the new ...
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US Navy launches study to look into P-3 replacement aircraft
The US Navy has launched studies into a replacement for its Lockheed P-3 maritime-patrol aircraft. Industry was briefed in late January on plans to field a Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMMA) by 2015, to replace the Navy's land-based P-3s, electronic-intelligence EP-3Es, submarine-communications Boeing E-6s and tanker/transport Lockheed Martin C-130s. The ...
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USA makes last-ditch ASTOR effort
Douglas Barrie/LONDON A high-level US delegation visited the UK in early January in an eleventh-hour attempt to persuade the Government to procure a variant of the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) to meet its Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR ) requirement. The delegation, say US sources, ...
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Turbine-helicopter deliveries increase
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Deliveries of turbine-powered helicopters increased in 1997, buoyed by sales of new light single- and twin-engined aircraft. Bell shipped no fewer than 140 of its new single-turbine Model 407s in 1997, while Eurocopter delivered 28 of its new EC135 light twins. Bell led deliveries in 1997, shipping ...
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Dragon goes to sea with USMC
The US Marine Corps (USMC) is to test a maritime variant of the BAI Aerosystems Exdrone unmanned air vehicle (UAV) following positive results during a recent series of exercises. The USMC Warfighting Laboratory is upgrading ten BQM-147A Exdrones to Dragon drones with a shipboard launch and recovery capability, heavy-fuel ...
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Launching forward
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin/Boeing's F-22 represents the pinnacle of US military-avionics development, but the air-superiority fighter is not scheduled to become operational until 2005. Meanwhile, manufacturers have begun development of the next generation of avionics, for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which, probably optimistically, is scheduled to enter service ...
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USA and France plan joint UCAV testing
Bids are being sought for a 48-month US/French programme to demonstrate flight-control and flight-management technologies enabling combined strike operations by manned aircraft and unmanned combat air-vehicles (UCAVs). The Integrated Tactical Aircraft Control research programme will flight-test two concepts for the control of UCAVs: by aircrew in manned strike aircraft ...
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US Army has to slow mine detector work
A substantial budget cut, along with poor test results, has forced the US Army to slow development of the Airborne Stand-off Mine Detection System (ASTAMIDS). The US Army had planned to pick one of four contenders in January to begin 33 months of ASTAMIDS engineering and manufacturing development (EMD). ...
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USN picks UAVs for VTOL demonstration
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Navy will test three entirely different unmanned-air-vehicle (UAV) designs in its forthcoming vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) demonstration, which the contractors hope will lead to the deployment of an operational system. In late 1997, the UAV Joint Project Office chose Bell Helicopter, Bombardier and Science ...
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Quick-change artist
Peter Gray/ARLINGTON The tilt-rotor concept has been around for many years, but only recently has the first military application (the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey) received production approval from the US Department of Defense. Even more recently, Bell and Boeing have launched the Model 609 civil tilt-rotor which is scheduled to fly ...
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AsiaSat 3 drifts in space after failure of Proton upper stage
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Hughes-built AsiaSat 3 communications satellite was left drifting in a useless orbit after the the failure of the fourth stage of the Russian Proton K booster which launched it from Baikonur on 24 December. It was the first failure suffered by the US/Russian ILS International ...
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Aerial targets
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $29 million contract from the US Navy for 119 BQM-74E aerial targets. The contract represents the third option to a competitive contract awarded in 1996. The target simulates aircraft, anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles. First deliveries are expected in May 1999. In October, the ...
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Seventh Proton blast-off Khrunichev figures
Tim Furniss/LONDON Khrunichev's Proton K/DM booster had its seventh commercial launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 3 December. The Russian company says that it hopes to earn $850 million from its Proton satellite launcher business, covering 22 flights in the five years between 1996 and 2000. The launch mirrors ...
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Australia nears Global Hawk goal
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Peter le Franchi/CANBERRA Australian and US Government-to-Government negotiations over Australian Defence Force participation in the Teledyne Ryan Global Hawk long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) are virtually complete and may result in a formal agreement by the end of December, according to programme sources. Australian interest ...
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VTOL contracts loom as CL-327 UAV flies
The US Navy is expected soon to select the unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for its vertical- take-off-and-landing (VTOL) demonstration, following the successful first flight of one of its prime candidates for the programme. The UAV Joint Programme Office "is reviewing the bids and is close to awarding a contract ...
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USAF receives E-8
The US Air Force will achieve the initial operational capability for the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) this month. The initial fielding landmark was made possible after the US aerospace firm delivered the third production JSTARS aircraft to the USAF in November. Although not yet "operational", ...
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Eagle Eye VTOL demonstrator gets airborne again
The Bell Helicopter Eagle Eye tiltrotor unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has resumed flying in preparation for the forthcoming US Navy vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) demonstration, which may lead to the fielding of an operational system. The USN's plans for a maritime VTOL UAV were shelved five years ago, ...
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Outrider builds up flight hours
Alliant Techsystems says that its Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle has completed four test-flights, including its first back-to-back flights and the longest flight to date, 1h 22min. The tests, which used the new UK-built UAV Engines 801R rotary powerplant, verified the performance of the stability-augmentation system. Following design changes, the ...
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Towards hypersonic flight
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Progress in the development of airbreathing powerplants for hypersonic vehicles has been hampered since the 1960s by unexpected complexities encountered with the scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet), until recently the only real candidate for powering such high-speed craft. In an effort to address the impasse, leading international figures in ...