UAV
Fire Scout helicopter UAV successfully fires test rockets
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July 27, 2005 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's RQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle (UAV) reached another important milestone this week when the UAV successfully fired two test rockets. This is the first successful live weapons fire from an autonomous unmanned helicopter. This event proves Fire Scout's ability to perform strike missions -- in addition to conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance -- and subsequently expands its capabilities.
Fire Scout UAV struts its stuff
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July 14, 2005 The most advanced vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) tactical unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in the World is the Northrop Grumman RQ-8A (AKA the Fire Scout) and the Fire Scout recently demonstrated its vast capabilities during a two-hour flight demonstration for this year's Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's North American convention held in Baltimore. The capabilities of the RQ-8A and next generation RQ-8B which will offer greater endurance and payload capabilities, will be critical to the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)'s mission to protect and monitor the shoreline, coastal waters and open seas. These will include Fire Scout's ability to deploy precision-guided munitions and to carry several new payloads for advanced communications, maritime and land-based surveillance, and mine detection. The RQ-8B VTOL UAV is pictured with the LCS at right and will also play a major role in the US Armed Forces Future Combat System (FCS) Read More
Unmanned Air Combat X-45C to get Autonomous Aerial Refueling capabilities
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July 12, 2005 The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Boeing an additional US$175 million to continue the X-45C portion of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) Capability Demonstration Program, adding a full demonstration of a new Autonomous Aerial Refueling technology and culminating in an in-flight X-45C refueling by a KC-135 tanker in 2010. By adding autonomous refuelling to the X-45’s already scary capabilities , the United States will be able to provide “an even longer sustained, lethal presence in hostile airspace holding enemy forces open to immediate surveillance or destruction." Read More
World’s First Hydrogen UAV
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July 4, 2005 AeroVironment (AV) has successfully completed the world’s first liquid hydrogen powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight tests. In doing so, the fifty-foot wingspan prototype Global Observer aircraft accomplished a major milestone in AV’s unmanned High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) development and continued the life work of one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known – Paul MacCready. MacCready founded AeroVironment after achieving the world’s first human powered flight and the world’s first solar powered flight more than a quarter of a century ago. The prototype flight was the last major milestone in the company’s HALE UAV technology development and demonstrates the practicality and operational robustness of the Global Observer system. AV’s Global Observer HALE platform will be able to operate at 65,000 feet altitude for a week at a time with a payload of up to 1,000 pounds. Using only two aircraft in rotation, this will provide seamless communication relay and remote sensing systems at breakthrough affordability. Some of the applications for the new system include persistent, global, near-space loitering capability for defence, low-cost, rapidly-deployable telecommunications infrastructure, hurricane/storm tracking, weather monitoring, environmental monitoring, agriculture optimisation and aerial imaging/mapping capabilities. Read More
Synthetic aperture radar may soon be used for reconnaissance on small UAVs
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June 30, 2005 Researchers at the United States National Nuclear Security Administration’s Sandia National Laboratories flew what is probably the world’s smallest fine-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) recently, making real-time images from the 6-kilometer range with a resolution of four inches. It was a first for the 25-pound instrument that may soon be used for reconnaissance on near-model-airplane-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Next-Generation Communications for Unmanned Systems
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June 28, 2005 Technology continues to add ever increasing, capabilities, firepower and situational awareness to the modern warfighter. Indeed, the ability for soldiers on the ground, at sea and in the air to share information in real time has been the goal for all fighting forces around the world and will soon be a reality thanks to next-generation signal intelligence and data link products shown at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI's) Unmanned Systems North America 2005 Conference in Baltimore, Maryland today. The products build on Cubic's field-proven data link technologies, which transmit real-time data, video and other sensor information from airborne systems to ground-based and shipboard platforms. Read More
Boeing X-45A Unmanned Aircraft Demonstrates Autonomous Capability
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June 25, 2005 The Boeing X-45A unmanned aircraft continues to impress in trials as it showcases its ability to adapt to a realistic and changing wartime operational environment. During a recent test flight, its 52nd to date, an X-45A departed from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, climbed to 29,000 ft. and entered the base’s test range. While flying the mission, several simulated Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) emitters were activated and the unmanned aircraft autonomously created its own flight plan to remain out of lethal range of the simulated SAM sites. Always managed by the pilot-operator, the X-45A then attacked its simulated priority ground target and showcased the ability to suppress enemy air defenses. Once the aircraft had conducted a simulated battle damage assessment, the X-45A safely returned to Edwards. Read More
ScanEagle UAV passes 3000 combat hours in Iraq
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June 6, 2005 – ScanEagle, a long-endurance fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has surpassed 3,000 combat flight hours during operations in Iraq in just ten months. The low-cost UAV has proven to be one of the military's most effective tools for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in Iraqi. Since being deployed by the First Marine Expeditionary Force in August 2004, ScanEagle has accumulated flight hours at an increasingly high rate due to the need for its unmatched capabilities. "The Marines depend on ScanEagle daily to provide critical real-time imagery tactical commanders can use to develop a clearer picture of the battlefield," said Peggy Holly, Boeing ScanEagle program manager. "Reaching 3,000 combat flight hours in such a short time is a testament to ScanEagle's operational value." Read More
The networked battlefield moves a step closer
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June 1, 2005 The network centric battlefield moved a step closer this week with the first live-fire testing of the Quick Reaction Unitary (QRU) Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) using a network centric integrated High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher. If it sounds complex, that’s because it is, but the big idea is to save time when a time-critical target is identified in the battle space. The test went like this: an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) identified a Time Sensitive Target (TST), relaying the information to the proper system node in order to generate a "call-for-fire" message to a Battle Command Cell (BCC) prototype. The BCC prototype provides embedded battle command capabilities, including command and control, situational awareness and direct sensor feeds of target imagery. The UAV provided geographic location data to the BCC, which then ordered a fire mission for an ATACMS QRU off the network-integrated HIMARS launcher, significantly reducing the time to hit the target. The test proved that in those defining moments when seconds matter, a directly networked HIMARS firing ATACMS in the command and control structure will prove to be a considerable force multiplier. Read More
New software allows a flock of UAVs to work together
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March 29, 2005 The old saying, "birds of a feather, flock together," can now be applied to a couple of small uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) flown in a NASA research experiment using principles derived from studies of fish and bird motions to simultaneously guide them around obstacles. Engineers and technicians from NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., recently conducted flight tests over a 'virtual' forest fire to evaluate new flight-control software that will allow UAVs the ability to autonomously react to obstacles as they fly pre-programmed missions. The tests were conducted over a remote area of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to investigate cooperative flight strategies for airborne monitoring and surveillance of natural disasters and for atmospheric sampling. Read More
Schiebel next-generation UAV Camcopter
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March 23, 2005 Looking for all the world like a flying shark, Schiebel's next-generation Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Camcopter S-100 was shown for the first time at the recent International Defence Expo. The Camcopter S-100 is a medium -range, medium endurance VTOL UAV system designed to provide a unique balance between advanced capabilities and operation in tactical environments. The remarkable potential in both civilian and military applications for unmanned autonomous helicopters was previously detailed in our Yamaha RMAX UAV story, though the Schiebel Camcopter's focus is primarily military. Read More
UAV learns to think for itself - now technology will transition to military
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February 22, 2005 Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one step closer to someday matching, and possibly surpassing, their human-piloted counterparts, thanks to the successful completion of a project at Georgia Tech. The project showed that Gatech's GT Max rotary wing UAV is able to learn as it flies, manoeuvre aggressively and automatically plan a route through obstacles thanks to its Open Control Platform system. Researchers from several partner institutions and organizations have helped to successfully build, test and fly GTMax, with capabilities of flight control fault identification and reconfiguration, adaptive control and agile manoeuvring - all operating on a single vehicle and under a single software architecture. Read More
New Medium Altitude Endurance UAV to deliver better real-time reconnaissance to soldiers in urban battle zones
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February 2, 2005 - Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the first phase of flight testing a demonstrator version of a new medium altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Soldiers in urban battle zones could receive more timely and complete information about enemy forces from low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with the technologies being developed. Read More
Multi-vehicle and voice controlled UAVs take off
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November 8, 2004 Recent advances by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have seen the development of a manned-to-unmanned aircraft guidance system that allows remote multi-vehicle operations and voice activated control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. In the first flight test on August 24, two Boeing X-45As were flown simultaneously under the supervision of a single operator as part of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program. Read More
The X45-C Unmanned Aerial Bomber
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November 2, 2004 Boeing has shown the first full-scale mock-up of its largest UAV, the X45-C. The new machine was debuted at the Farnsborough International Air Show in the UK. The model represents what the X-45C will look like when completed at the company's St. Louis manufacturing facility in 2006. Assembly of this revolutionary aircraft began in June and it is scheduled to make its first flight in 2007. Boeing previously built two X-45A vehicles, now being flight-tested at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Read More
The Bell Eagle Eye UTAV ready to fly
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The Eagle Eye UTAV is intelligent, flies like an aircraft and takes off and lands vertically. It will fly into the toughest life-threatening conditions imaginable so human beings don't need to. It's also capable of providing the best recon reports, in the worst dynamic conditions, hour after hover-flight hour, because it uses the same tiltrotor technology as its big brother Osprey to provide a runwayless solution for the ultimate in ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.) Read More
Boeing Unmanned Combat Aircraft Makes Aviation History
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'Target confirmation, arm and release consent.' With those three commands from its human operator, a Boeing X-45A unmanned combat aircraft made aviation history by releasing an inert (non-explosive) Global Positioning System-guided Small Smart Bomb and hitting a ground target at the US Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Range in California in mid-April (2004). Read More
Yamaha's RMAX - the worlds most advanced non-military UAV
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UPDATED Nov 19, 2004 The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), is a term you'll hear a lot more about over the coming years. In the past it has mainly been mentioned whenever a technologically advanced country (aka the USA) is involved in warfare. The biggest advantage of a UAV is that it can be put 'in harm's way' - it can be put in a dangerous situation where the odds of losing a pilot (the most valuable part of any aircraft) are simply too great. Now Yamaha has unveiled a range of Unmanned Ground, Marine and Air Vehicles that bring autonomous capability to the world around us. Read More
UCAR - the next generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
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Sunday August 17, 2003: The Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) Program aims to take pilot-less aircraft to the next level by creating an intelligent "pack" that can take action individually or in collaboration to locate and destroy targets in the battlefield... Read More
Unmanned Aerial vehicles
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May, 2004 It's 100 years since the Wright brothers became the first humans to achieve successful powered flight, but the trend at the beginning of the 21st century is to take humans back out of the cockpit, replacing pilots with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that are equipped to perform almost any task.Used on a limited but increasing scale since the Vietnam War for aerial surveillance - 10 UAV systems were used in Iraq according to the US Defense Department - UAVs are now taking on a more active combat role as well as finding applications in the private sector. Read More
AVATAR: Australian designed unmanned aerial vehicle
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The AVATAR Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an Australian developed autonomous reconnaissance plane capable of transmitting real-time images back to a laptop computer over a 10 km range. Read More
X-47A Pegasus unmanned flight milestone
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February 24, 2004 Northrop Grumman has announced details of the first flight of its experimental Pegasus unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The 12- minute flight took place at a naval airbase in California on 23 February and met all test objectives including low-speed handling, navigation performance, data collection and a pinpoint landing designed to simulate the tail-hook arrestment point on a carrier flight deck. Described as a significant milestone in autonomously controlled flight, Northrop Grumman designed and built the Pegasus X-47A with its own funds to demonstrate its low-cost unmanned vehicle management capabilities. Read More
