UAV
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
