Military UAVs – Page 317
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US military considers civil helicopter lease
The US military is considering leasing civil helicopter services as a substitute for procuring new military rotorcraft. The US Navy's Military Sealift Command plans to launch a competition in fiscal year 1998 for commercially-operated vertical replenishment (VERTREP) of its warships. The contract is designed to meet a projected ...
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Smart wing
Northrop Grumman has received $8 million from the US Air Force under a Smart Materials and Structures Demonstration Smart Wing 2 programme designed to apply the advanced technologies to unmanned aircraft. The contract provides for design, development and test of a Smart Wing model using new technologies. ...
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Bombardier builds improved UAV
BOMBARDIER PLANS a September maiden flight of its CL-327 rotary-wing unmanned air-vehicle (UAV), the production version of its vertical take-off and landing CL-227. The Canadian company decided a year ago to launch limited production in a bid to stimulate demand for its much-tested UAV. The production CL-327 has ...
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US Army picks Northrop minefield detector for Bosnian operation
The Northrop Grumman Airborne Standoff Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS) is to be sent to Bosnia for three months, says John Martin, a new-business-development manager for the US firm. The ASTAMIDS, which consists of an infra-red (IR) sensor, processor and display station, is designed to survey minefields accurately from ...
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UK MoD will invite tenders for new IFF programme soon
Douglas Barrie/London The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is likely to release an invitation to tender for its £500 million ($800 million)-plus next-generation identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) programme within the next two to three months. The Successor IFF (SIFF) project is intended to provide all three armed services ...
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Rotary Rocket wins $6 million backing
ROTARY ROCKET has secured $6 million of initial financing from private investors to begin design of its Roton re-usable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites will build the Roton, which will take off like a conventional booster, but land like an unpowered helicopter. The first flight is scheduled for ...
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USN takes first steps towards finding Outrider successor
THE US NAVY has notified industry that it will conduct a demonstration of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles which might eventually supplement or replace the Alliant Techsystems Outrider Tactical UAV. USN consideration of a maritime VTOL UAV was shelved five years ago because of budget ...
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In HARM's way
Several show debutantes at Le Bourget indicated that defeating air- defence radars remains high on air-force agendas. The USA is working on rocket-ramjet-powered dual-mode-seeker missile designs to provide a successor to the Texas Instruments AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) in the defence suppression role. Two potential replacement ...
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All eyes on ALCA
Andrzej Jeziorski/PRAGUE A military band played the fanfare from Jesus Christ Superstar as the L-159 - the first new Central European combat aircraft prototype since the fall of Communism - was officially rolled out at Aero Vodochody's factory near Prague, on 12 June. The choice of ...
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Predator sensor
Northrop Grumman has received $16 million from the US Army to produce additional Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) payloads for the General Atomics Predator unmanned air vehicle. The contract provides for nine TESAR payloads, two spares and a set of ground control-station displays. Delivery will be between May 1998 ...
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JSF marriage hogs limelight on flat defence scene
The British Aerospace link-up with Lockheed Martin for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition stole the headlines at Paris on the defence scene. Many consider the long-predicted transatlantic link a foregone conclusion, but talks had been going between BAe and its two suitors until Monday. It ...
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Finalist: Northrop Grumman, Electronics
Finalist: Northrop Grumman, Electronics & Systems Integration Division Location Rolling Meadows, Illinois, USA Achievement Weight and cost savings through a miniaturised radio-transmitter unit. Northrop Grumman's highly miniaturised C-Band Microwave Power Module (MPM) is already offering significant weight savings in use on the US Navy's E-2C Hawkeye ...
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Pentagon extends Outrider probation
Flight testing of the Alliant Techsystems Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is being put on the fast track as the company has been given additional time by the US Deparmtment of Defense to prove the drone's capabilities. The Outrider was six months late in being flown, and ...
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F-16 'still good for another 20 years'
Contrary to suggestions from its competitors, the Lockheed Martin F-16 will be around at the Paris air show for many years to come, says a senior programme official. Responding to attacks by the SAAB/BAe Gripen team on Monday, F-16 programme vice-president Bob Elrod says the F-16 is to ...
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United States Army selects Grumman radar
The US Army Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) is to take nine Northrop Grumman Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) payloads. Also in the $16.2million contract is provision for two spares and a set of ground control station displays. TESAR is a compact, lightweight, low-cost surveillance radar ...
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Cobham extends reach in the antenna sector
Cobham has acquired the well-established French antenna designer STAREC, in a move which enhances the UK company's already dominant position in this sector. Cobham is featuring two of its prime companies in Paris - FR Aviation and Chelton (Electrostatics). FR Aviation, with its French subsidiary, Air Precision, ...
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Roamanian shadow
A $20million Romanian defence systems contract has been won by AAI Corporation. Romania is to purchase an AAI Shadow 600 unmanned air vehicle (UAV) system and a Moving Target Simulator (MTS) short-range air defence training package under the contract, the first to be financed under the US Defense Export Loan ...
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Cypher goes through its paces
Sikorsky's Cypher unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has accumulated about 400 flight hours at the company's Development Flight Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida. In a dramatic demonstration at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) site at Fort Benning, Georgia, Cypher flew down streets, landed on a building's ...
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Bird's eye view from ESG's
There's a covert helicopter hiding in the clouds that can detect, identify and locate vehicles and people at distances up to 10km. It's called Luna - an airborne, unmanned, short-range reconnaissance system for the Armoured Reconnaissance Corps of the German Army. Portable The Luna ...
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K-MAX customers back for more
Repeat orders for Kaman's K-MAX aerial truck have underlined customer confidence in the aircraft's niche role for the logging, oil rig and pipeline construction and oil exploration markets. Kaman Aerospace announced additional orders for the aerial truck by Mountain West Helicopters in Utah, Midwest Helicopters of Winnipeg, Canada, ...