Military UAVs – Page 319
-
News
Evergreen has to switch VERTREP demonstrators
The US Navy's USS Saturn is due to depart at the end of April for five months at sea with different aircraft from those originally envisioned to be operated by commercial operator Evergreen Helicopters. The Military Sealift Command (MSC) sea trial marks the third in a series of ...
-
News
Unmanned U-2 pitched at USAF
LOCKHEED Martin Skunk Works is studying an unmanned variant of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, which it believes could meet various US Air Force requirements. The firm outlined its concept in an unsolicited proposal to the USAF in March. The U-2U variant would augment the manned U-2S for ...
-
News
Alliant's Outrider could be on its way out
The US Department of Defense is seeking alternatives to the beleaguered Alliant Techsystems Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle (TUAV), with the fate of the project to be determined within two months. Senior US defence officials will allow the TUAV advanced-concept technology demonstration (ACTD) to continue for an additional ...
-
News
USN revives VTOL UAV
The US Navy's interest in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAV) is being rekindled with a competitive fly-off, which is expected to lead to the service fielding a UAV to supplement the Alliant Techsystems Outrider Tactical UAV. US Navy plans for a maritime VTOL UAV ...
-
News
Ten years after Lavi
Ovadia Harari has come a considerable distance in the decade since the Israeli Government dumped the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)Lavi fighter project. Then project manager on the Lavi, Harari is now general manager of IAI's military aircraft group. Both Harari and IAIhave moved on since the decision was ...
-
News
Tests prove Pioneer's CARS compatibility...
THE PIONEER unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has undergone compatibility testing with the Common Automatic Recovery System (CARS). A series of seven shipboard recoveries was successfully completed during testing in the Atlantic Ocean. The Pioneer UAV was flown into the recovery net by means of commands received via datalink ...
-
News
Kentron flight tests new laser-designator pod
Kentron of South Africa is working on an aircraft laser-designator pod. A test version is already undergoing preliminary flying trials. The pod, which is fitted with a forward-looking infra-red sensor and laser designator, is designated the KZ2, and draws on company technology initially developed for reconnaissance and target-location ...
-
News
BAe/Westland study AEW needs-
British Aerospace is proposing an aircraft wingtip-mounted synthetic-aperture radar to meet the Royal Navy's Future Organic Airborne-Early-Warning (FOAEW) requirement, while GKNWestland is looking at a compound-lift variant of the Westland/Agusta EH101 Merlin as an AEW platform for the RN's proposed future carrier. BAe has carried out windtunnel tests ...
-
News
Overweight Outrider TUAV finally flies
The Alliant Techsystems Outrider Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (TUAV) was flown for the first time on 7 March, five months behind schedule. The prototype has also suffered from significant weight growth which has substantially reduced its endurance. Successful testing of the Outrider was carried out at the municipal ...
-
News
Sundstrand gears up for TJ-50
Sundstrand Power Systems is planning to mass-produce a 0.22kN (50lb)-thrust turbojet ,which it believes will have applications for target drones, decoys, unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and even missiles. "The engine is virtually creating its own market," says Sundstrand, which developed the low-cost TJ-50 through the US Advanced Research ...
-
News
US Air Force launches its first Titan 4B from Cape Canaveral
The first uprated Titan 4 booster was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 22 February, carrying a US Air Force Defense Space programme missile early-warning satellite into geostationary orbit (GEO). The $200 million, TRW-built DSP was boosted into its final orbit by the Boeing IUS upper stage. The ...
-
News
DARPA selects three to research cruise missile project
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Texas Instruments, Boeing North American and Toyon Research to undertake year-long research studies on low-cost, cruise-missile defence systems. Texas Instruments, Boeing North American and Toyon Research of Goleta, California, have received $1 million, $182,500 and $848,500, respectively, to ...
-
News
Alliant protests over USAF WCMD choice
Alliant Techsystems is contesting the US Air Force's selection of Lockheed Martin to produce 40,000 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMDs), worth $500 million. The US defence contractor has lodged an official protest with the US General Accounting Office (GAO), citing questions about the USAF's cost evaluation. As is ...
-
News
Pentagon to hold talks with Europe on UAVs
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is to hold talks in April with France, Germany and the UK over possible involvement in the next phases of the high-altitude-endurance unmanned air vehicle (HAE UAV) and other programmes now being pursued under its new advanced-concept-technology demonstration (ACTD) initiative. Paul Kaminski, ...
-
News
Netherlands deploys interim F-16 reconnaissance system
The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNAF) has begun evaluation tests of the medium-altitude reconnaissance system (MARS), which it intends to deploy with its dedicated Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon reconnaissance squadron. The MARS pod is intended to provide an interim medium-level reconnaissance capability, supplanting the ageing Orpheus pod, ...
-
News
Evergreen picks up USN demonstration
The US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) has selected operator Evergreen Helicopters, rather than Kaman Aerospace, for further civil-helicopter demonstrations of commercially operated vertical replenishment (VERTREP) of warships. Kaman's K-MAX was used successfully to demonstrate the concept over the past two years, but the MSC says that it ...
-
News
Schweizer develops unmanned helicopter
US manufacturer Schweizer Aircraft and its Japanese distributor, Kawada Industries, have teamed to develop an unmanned derivative of the Schweizer 300 single-piston light helicopter. According to vice-president and assistant general manager of Kawada's aviation division, Tadahiro Kawada, the "RoboCopter 300" is "basically a standard Schweizer 300CB with three-axis-gyro ...
-
News
Dynamic Avalon
A series of notable current Australasian civil- and military-aviation competitions virtually guarantees that the Australian International Airshows DownUnder at Avalon Airport, near Melbourne, will be a dynamic event in industry terms. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has recently named Kaman as its preferred bidder for medium shipboard helicopters, ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin wins $500 million Wind Dispenser contract
Lockheed Martin has beaten Alliant Techsystems to provide the US Air Force with 40,000 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMD), a contract totalling about $500 million. The Pentagon awarded the firm an initial $22 million on 27 January for pilot production of 190 units. The bomb kit, which will ...
-
News
Belgian UAV growth
Belgium has approved army plans to replace Epervier unmanned reconnaissance aircraft by 2002 and extend the army division's surveillance capability from 30km (16nm) to 80km by 2002. Source: Flight International