The Rapid Equipping Force (REF) has a requirement to purchase Unmanned Aircraft System to support Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Shortfalls in the environmentally inhospitable operating environment of Afghanistan. Continue reading
Category Archives: Lighter Than Air
General Atomics Successfully Tests Lynx Multi-mode Radar on Aerostat
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced its successful participation in a U.S. Air Force exercise designed to demonstrate the capability of an aerostat equipped with maritime radar and an Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor to provide situational awareness for littoral environments. Continue reading
Argus One Free Flight Testing at the US Department of Energy Nevada Test Site in December
World Surveillance Group Inc. has announced that that free flight testing and customer demonstrations of the Argus One will take place at the US Department of Energy Nevada Test Site (“N2S2”) in early December 2011. Continue reading
Unmanned Flying Fish from NAVAIR at Patuxent River Naval Air Station
The UAS Team of the Battlespace Modeling and Simulation Division from NAVAIR at Patuxent River Naval Air Station brought their remotely piloted “flying fish” last Thursday to a local Kindergarten in Leonardtown. Continue reading
Lockheed Martin Gets $383m Aerostat Contract from US Army
Persitent Threat Detection System Photo: U.S. Army
The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $383 million contract to maintain, operate and sustain the Persistent Threat Detection Systems (PTDS). Continue reading
Indian Report Criticises Air Force Use of Aerostats
India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has criticised the nation’s Air Force for failing to keep two Israeli-supplied aerostat-based radars in operational condition. Continue reading
Rockwell Collins to Supply All Control Systems for US Air Force $86M Blue Devil Block 2 Airship Programme
Avionics maker Rockwell Collins reveals that it has won a broad system-level contract on the US Air Force’s $86 million Blue Devil Block 2 airship programme, the company’s first “nose to tail” command and control win in the unmanned aircraft systems sector.
Airships Are Back in Fashion
In recent years, airships have once again become a major force in aviation. The Pentagon has gone especially blimp-crazy, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into advanced — and massive — surveillance airships that can stay in the sky way longer than any unmanned aircraft. Here is a review of some of the new generation by Wired’s Danger Room: