UAV

Northrop Grumman adds “Sense-and-Avoid” tech to Navy UAVs

By Noel McKeegan

19:39 August 9, 2007 PDT

August 10, 2007 Northrop Grumman has announced that it will equip its unmanned aircraft with technology that makes it safer to share airspace with piloted aircraft. Known as “Sense-and-Avoid”, these systems have been in development for more than five years. Read More

Boeing demonstrates simultaneous control of multiple UAVs

By Noel McKeegan

June 28, 2007 Boeing has successfully demonstrated the simultaneous command and control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by a single operator. The demonstration at Boeing's Boardman test range utilized advanced autonomous control software, three ScanEagle aircraft and an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) console. Already an effective and proven weapon in the field, this next-generation of UAVs this will see future battlefields transformed by large numbers of unmanned craft that can operate through a central control point as well as having the ability to self-organize and make decisions independently. Read More

Next-generation Sky Warrior's maiden flight a success

By Loz Blain

June 18, 2007 Resurrecting a great name from the 1950s, General Atomics have completed the maiden flight of their Sky Warrior Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). While the original, built by Douglas, was known for being the largest and heaviest "whale" of a bomber to take-off and land on aircraft carriers, the new Sky Warrior will operate as an unmanned long range surveillance, communications and weapons delivery drone. Able to run happily on diesel or jet fuel due to its Heavy Fuel Engine, the Sky Warrior will form a key part of the U.S. Army's Extended Range/Multi Purpose Unmanned Aircraft system. Read More

Successful autonomous landing of a damaged UAV

By Mike Hanlon

May 31, 2007 One of the advantages of having a human at the controls of an aircraft when things go wrong is that we have the ability to adjust and intelligently work around a problem – the tales of valiant airmen bringing home planes that have no right to still be flying are myriad. Now it seems that the humble, computer-controlled UAV is set to learn such skills too. Flight control and navigation systems provider Athena Technologies recently demonstrated the damage tolerant flight control and autonomous landing capabilities on a subscale F/A-18 UAV. See the videos … Read More

Cyborg machine-insects prepare for the battlefields of the future

By Noel McKeegan

May 31, 2007 Cyborgs and bionic humans have long been the domain of science fiction with the concept popularised by the seventies TV series, Six Million Dollar Man, about a cyborg working for the OSI. As technological development funded by military spending has accelerated in recent times, we’ve seen the development of the bionic eye, the bionic hand and the bionic arm, with lots of work also being done in the area of exoskeletal robotics to help soldiers run faster and longer and carry heavy loads. Now it appears that we’re about to see the concept of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Cyborgs morph. Whilst UAVs have been among the most successful and high-profile innovations in military technology over the past decade, the arena of unmanned aerial technology is about to become a whole lot stranger as hybrid insect-machine "cyborgs" become a reality. The prospect of a remote controlled dragon-fly capable of transmitting video and other environmental data from the front-line still seems like the stuff of science-fiction, but research into hybrid insect-machines is accelerating under the auspices of DARPA. Read More

Military fast jet pilot directs multiple UAVs

By Mike Hanlon

April 4, 2007 The networked battlespace of the not-too-distant future is beginning to look very much like a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic box office thriller, “The Birds” with hordes of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) combining to overwhelming effect. QinetiQ and the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) last week demonstrated a new system which provides a single pilot with the ability to fly their own military fast jet while simultaneously directing up to four further unmanned aircraft. The system gives unmanned aircraft an advanced level of autonomously - independent decision-making including self-organisation, communication, sensing the environment, identifying possible enemies, and targeting of weapons with the final decision to shoot retained by the human pilot. The technology developed for these trials is feeding the Taranis combat UAV and ASTRAEA projects, the latter exploring the use of UAVs for non-military applications. The ability to direct multiple UAVs could be useful for search and rescue, disaster relief operations and environmental monitoring, just for a start. Read More

AeroVironment Aqua Puma UAV completes Royal Australian Navy Sea trials

By Mike Hanlon

February 9, 2007 AeroVironment's Aqua Puma small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS) has successfully completed sea trials for the Royal Australian Navy to explore adding a UAS capability to the Navy’s new Armidale class patrol boats. AV’s Aqua Puma is launched by hand, lands directly onto the sea surface and is recovered by hand from vessels. It is a next-generation FQM-151 Pointer, with the same form factor but increased endurance (1.5 hours) and enhanced sensor capability. Adding the Aqua Puma to the Armidales will require no ship modifications and will add significant day and night reconnaissance and surveillance capability. Read More

England’s Taranis to be one of the largest UAVs ever

By Mike Hanlon

January 6, 2007 Yet another potent UAV is in the development phase, this one for the UK Ministry of Defence to be constructed by a team headed by BAE Systems, together with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Aerospace and QinetiQ, plus MoD military staff and scientists. The four year project to develop a world-class UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) Technology Demonstrator Programme called Taranis. Ground testing of the UKP124 million Taranis project is expected to take place in early 2009 with the first flight trials taking place in 2010. Named after the Celtic God of Thunder, Taranis will be an unmanned fast jet demonstrator the size of a Hawk trainer - making it one of the world's largest UAVs - that will be stealthy, fast and be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and be able to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft. Read More

Recoilless technology provides killer app for UAVs

By Mike Hanlon

December 12, 2006 The technological progress of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has been astonishingly rapid. At the beginning of the current Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, it’s fair to say that UAVs were regarded as a reconnaissance tool for improving situational awareness but from the time the first Hellfire missiles were fired from an RQ-1A Predator UAV during 2002, the enormous advantage of an armed UAV that can help identify and eliminate a target has been recognised. Predators can prowl and strike where conventional military force cannot. In September we wrote about the first purpose-built hunter-killer UAV, and now the rush is on to add armaments to smaller UAVs. UAVs must be relatively large to withstand the recoil of the weapons they shoot, so weapon caliber has been limited. Now a new recoilless technology is set to revolutionize the small UAV’s role in the battlespace - Recoilless Technologies International (RTI) has signed a Joint Commercialization Agreement with UAV manufacturer, Tactical Aerospace Group (TAG). The new technology offers effective elimination and control of recoil and hence enables very small UAVs to pack a massive wallop. That’s just the start though because the technology can be applied to larger caliber weapons systems so everything that flies, floats or moves on land will also be able to pack a similar increase in firepower. Who knows how small a killer UAV can get? We have visions of a swarm of semi-autonomous, networked, killer microbots shooting miniature poison-tipped darts as in Dan Brown's novel, Deception Point. Read More

RCV awarded engine contract for Micro Air Vehicle

By Mike Hanlon

December 8, 2006 There’s a delicious irony about the success of UK-based RCV Engines. The company achieved international recognition for its range of model aircraft engines then moved into a new market earlier this year with the development of its proprietary Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine for sub-250cc applications such as motorcycles, scooters and power tools where it offers 100PS/litre performance and manufacturing costs akin to those of a two-stroke, with the emission levels and fuel consumption of a four-stroke. The engine is so promising that it has been selected by Honeywell to produce a demonstrator engine based on RCV technology for use in Honeywell’s backpack-sized Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) – the irony is of course that the company is effectively back in the same domain it started from, though model aircraft enthusiasts who own one of RCV’s traditional SP or CD Series engines can rejoice in knowing that company is also powering some of the most innovative flying machines ever built. Another plus for the Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine is its exceptional power to weight ratio and it’s ability to run on a variety of fuels. The MAV autonomous surveillance aircraft has been developed as part of the US Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) MAV Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration programme and is small enough for a foot soldier to carry. It is designed to provide soldiers with improved situational awareness without exposing them to enemy fire through forward- and downward-looking video cameras that relay information to a remote ground station video terminal. Read More

GoldenEye 80 ducted fan UAV makes successful first flight

By Mike Hanlon

December 7, 2006 Flying saucer sightings are certain to be on the increase from this point forth as a new type of aerial vehicle comes into existence. The Aurora Flight Sciences GoldenEye 80 unmanned air vehicle made a successful first flight last month, becoming the first ducted fan UAV to fly under the power of a heavy fuel engine. The fully autonomous GoldenEye 80 UAV is being developed under contract to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through its Organic Air Vehicle (OAV-II) program. The GoldenEye 80 is designed to give company commanders the ability to spot, identify, designate, and destroy targets. With its powerful sensors and quiet operation, the aircraft can dash to a target area, hover motionless in the sky, and observe and designate a target – all without being heard by people on the ground. The unique design and embedded capabilities of the GoldenEye 80 enable the UAV to be used for a variety of military missions, from conducting surveillance beyond hills in rural areas to gathering intelligence while flying between buildings in urban warfare operations. Read More

First UAV to use High-Resolution Synthetic Aperture Surveillance Radar

By Mike Hanlon

December 7, 2006 Lockheed Martin recently accomplished a first for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), demonstrating that high-resolution, broad-area imaging from a Miniaturized Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) could effectively be delivered by a UAS into the hands of tactical unit commanders, regardless of smoke, dust, heavy rain or night-time conditions. During a successful field exercise at the Minnesota National Guard test facility on October 19, a small SkySpirit UAS carrying a Sandia-developed MiniSAR sensor soared to nearly 3,000 feet and, in near real-time, became the first UAS to successfully transmit four-inch resolution SAR imagery. During four different mission demonstrations, the SkySpirit transmitted MiniSAR images capturing actionable data in two operational modes: focused area circle-mapping and broad area strip-mapping. Multiple imaging passes were post-processed to demonstrate coherent change detection used to identify changes over time. Read More

Revolutionary New 'Cockpit' for UAVs dramatically improves operator performance

By Mike Hanlon

November 2, 2006 Raytheon has unveiled what it calls its Universal Control System (UCS) - a first of its kind unmanned aerial system (UAS) "cockpit" that revolutionizes operator awareness and efficiency, while providing the ability to control multiple unmanned aircraft, reduce potential accidents, improve training, and decrease costs. The announcement was made during the Shephard UV North America 2006 conference in Tysons Corner, Va. Read More

Hybrid Manned/Unmanned Light Helicopter Makes First Flight

By Mike Hanlon

October 10, 2006 This photo shows the first of two newly designed A/MH-6X light-turbine helicopters lifting off for the first time late last month at Boeing’s Rotorcraft Systems facility in Mesa, Arizona. The flight was a significant milestone in the continuing development of the versatile hybrid manned/unmanned military aircraft which combines the proven performance of the A/MH-6M Mission Enhanced Little Bird (MELB) with the unmanned aerial vehicle technologies of the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) Demonstrator, a modified MD 530F civil helicopter that has been in development since 2004. Aircraft performance will be similar to the ULB Demonstrator with an additional 1,000 pounds of payload that can be used for increased range, endurance or mission hardware. Total payload for the ULB Demonstrator is greater than 2,400 pounds. Read More

U.S. Air Force's first hunter-killer UAV named Reaper

By Mike Hanlon

September 14, 2006 The Air Force has announced "Reaper" has been chosen as the name for the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, the Air Force's first hunter-killer UAV. Formerly known as the Predator B, the MQ-9 is still in final development but is larger and much more powerful than the MQ-1 Predator and is designed to go after time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and should the Reaper ever be assigned your case, you are indeed very likely to become toast. Compared to the current MQ-1, which could carry two Hellfire missiles and is credited with at least one top 10 targets in Iraq, the Reaper is much more capable, and can carry 14 Hellfire II anti-armour missiles. The MQ-9 can also deploy precision guided weapons such as the GBU-12 and 500lb GBU-38 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). Similarly, the Reaper can carry an internal sensor payload more than twice that of MQ-1, now has an operational ceiling of 50,000 ft and can cruise above clouds at 260 knots for 14 hours at a time. In announcing the new moniker, Gen. T. Michael Moseley stressed that the key advantage of the UAV is not keeping pilots out of harm's way, but the persistence UAVs can inherently provide. Read More

Skylynx II Unmanned Aircraft System in testing

By Mike Hanlon

September 1, 2006 BAE Systems successfully completed tests on its Skylynx II unmanned aircraft system at Yuma Proving Grounds last month, meeting key requirements for acoustic performance, endurance, and payload capability for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition missions. The aircraft was developed to support missions such as those critical to the U.S. Marine Corps Tier II (regiment-level) unmanned aircraft program. The Skylynx II flew in a series of flight patterns to demonstrate agility. Using an integrated electro-optical/infrared imaging payload, the aircraft automatically located and tracked vehicle and human targets, transmitting coordinates to a ground station. Read More

Lockheed Martin showcases air, water and underwater unmanned vehicles

By Mike Hanlon

August 21, 2006 Lockheed Martin telegraphed its intention to become a significant supplier of unmanned systems technology during a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. this week. In showcasing its latest developments in unmanned systems technology and its progress into the future net-enabled environment, it discussed a broad range of unmanned and autonomous technologies, from the recently introduced Polecat and other unmanned aerial systems, to surface vessels such as the Protector (covered earlier this week here) and subsurface prowlers, such as the Sea Talon. During the conference Lockheed VP Frank Murno acknowledged that the company was considering a hybrid version of its F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter – where it could be operated with or without a human pilot as required. Read More

Little Bird - helicopter without a pilot

By Mike Hanlon

July 13, 2006 Just three months ago we wrote about the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter demonstrating the ability to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weapon payload using the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) UAV technology demonstrator as the remote vehicle. Now the Little Bird has achieved a major milestone in its development by flying unmanned for the first time. The payload for the first unmanned flight weighed 740 pounds, but could have carried an additional 550 pounds of payload. A more advanced configuration, which is expected to make its first flight later this summer, adds an additional 800 pounds of payload. Add all that up and the weapon payload could be as great as 2000 pounds, flown autonomously while its payload or sensor is guided from a remote site or another platform. We suddenly see a future of battlefields with flocks of warbirds, all networked, armed and very, very dangerous ... and not a pilot in sight! Read More

Vector P UAV demonstrates live fire monitoring

By Mike Hanlon

June 13, 2006 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will find their way into many peacetime roles over the coming decade, and the role of monitoring forest fires is almost certain to be one of them. Last week a group of 70 government observers gathered to observe and assess the capabilities of UAVs in a live fire monitoring application at the USDA Forest Service/NASA UAV Demo at Fort Hunter Liggett Army Garrison in California. The UAV designated to strut its stuff was an IntelliTech Vector P and the results were excellent. Carrying both standard and thermal infrared video cameras, the Vector P autonomously sought out fires set at locations five miles from the airport and transmitted the video back to the crowd of observers. In all, the Vector P successfully completed four day and night missions over controlled fires set at distant locations on the grounds of the 165,000 acre garrison. Read More

ScanEagle UAV demonstrates maritime capabilities

By Mike Hanlon

May 18, 2006 Last year we wrote about the ScanEagle UAV and its success in supplying U.S. Marines in Iraq with critical real-time tactical battlefield imagery. This time, we’re writing about the adaptation of the ScanEagle as a low-cost intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform for amphibious operations. Currently being trialled for its maritime capabilities by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in "Trial Vigilant Viper" off the coast of Scotland, the ScanEagle completed ten autonomous flights with full launch and recovery from a Type 23 Frigate in rough sea conditions. A small UAV such as the ScanEagle can significantly increase the capability of a boat, and the missions conducted during the trial illustrate this enormous potential for land and sea surveillance, beach reconnaissance, force protection, maritime interdiction and naval gunfire support. Read More

The jet-powered Carbon Fibre Barracuda UAV

By Mike Hanlon

May 13, 2006 EADS Military Air Systems has flight tested an innovative jet-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) it has code-named 'Barracuda'. Barracuda is eight metres long, has a wingspan of more than seven metres and a maximum take-off weight of just over three tonnes, all propelled by a Pratt & Whitney jet turbine delivering 14 kN thrust. The flight test in Spain lasted 20-minutes, followed a pre-programmed course completely autonomously and marked the completion of the first test phase. Following the first public presentation of Barracuda at the International Aerospace Exhibition ILA in Berlin next week, development will be continued. Read More

Boeing Apache demonstrates UAV Control

By Mike Hanlon

April 13, 2006 It hardly seems fair really. As if the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter isn’t scarey enough on its own, it has now demonstrated the ability to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weapon payload. Boeing demonstrated the capability recently at its Mesa, Arizona, facility, home of both Apache helicopter production and the company's Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) UAV technology demonstrator used in the milestone test. During the test, the Apache Longbow, the AMUST-D aircraft, took control and commanded multiple payloads on the unmanned aircraft, an A/MH-6 derivative in development by Boeing known as Unmanned Little Bird. The Apache was on the ground during this engineering phase of remote weapons control while the ULB was several miles away. Read More

SkyTote - the VTOL UAV that transitions into horizontal flight

By Mike Hanlon

April 8, 2006 One of the greatest difficulties with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is that they invariably don’t have high speed as one of their attributes. The principles are well explained in our article about the Cartercopter, and it’s one of the prime reasons the US military has persisted with the V-22 Osprey. There has been much emphasis on the development of new unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in recent times, and development imperatives have often been torn between the various needs for UAVs that can quickly move from target to target yet loiter as a fixed and stable platform, all the while operating with no launch and retrieval infrastructure. One of the planet's most innovative companies, Aerovironment, has proposed an innovative configuration known as the Skytote to meet all of these needs. The SkyTote is a novel UAV using dual counter rotating propellers that will take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but also transition into horizontal flight like a conventional aircraft for efficient point-to-point operation. This complex vehicle uses an intricate drive system to allow helicopter operations with cyclic and collective control, as well as blade pitch control, combined with normal aircraft control surfaces in conventional flight operations Read More

The Cormorant MPUAV

By Mike Hanlon

March 23, 2006 ADDITIONAL IMAGES AND INFORMATION If, as the men-behaving badly magazines tell us, “he who dies with the best toys, wins” then the United States military will invariably triumph, and it will only be a matter of deciding which arm of the military has the best array of the ultimate gizmos. The Cormorant concept, should it be built, is likely to give the Navy a big leg up! The Cormorant is a submarine/sea-launched and recovered Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MPUAV) - a unique concept to extend the capabilities of the newly modified OHIO-Class SSGN submarine as well as surface combatants such as the Littoral Combat Ship. It could enable renewable, organic air operations for long-range, survivable, all-weather reconnaissance, battle damage assessment, or specialized mission support (e.g., special forces re-supply) in a broad spectrum of operations. In particular, the combination of a stealthy SSGN submarine platform and a survivable MPUAV could introduce new capabilities to support future joint warfighting operations in high-threat scenarios. Read More

Raven UAV achieves milestones and wins the Commando Olympics

By Mike Hanlon

March 15, 2006 After the incredible response to yesterday’s story on weaponised micro unmanned aerial vehicles, it is interesting to note AeroVironment’s significant production milestone of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) systems that was announced today. The Raven (RQ-11A), a manpackable SUAV used by the U.S. Army and Special Forces since 2002, has surpassed the 3,000th air vehicle mark for production. The Raven is a 4.2 pound, hand-launched sensor platform that provides day and night, near-real-time video imagery for "over the hill" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of a ground commander. Made of Kevlar and costing US$25,000, it has a range of 80 minutes at up to 90 km/h and can venture up to 15 kilometres from its controller. No greater praise can be given than by those who use the Raven and this can be evidenced at the always excellent military website StrategyPage which reports that the Raven is winning what it terms the unofficial “Commando Olympics.” StrategyPage reports that in addition to the cooperation between the commando units of over a dozen countries assembled to pursue Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, there’s a lot of comparing notes – and the most envied high tech gadget of them all is the Raven. Read More