UAS VISION
an independent online news service for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems world
– Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works advanced projects division has put forward a new notional vision for a stealthy pilot-optional aerial refueling tanker. This comes as the U.S. Air Force is refining requirements for a future Next Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS) ‘system of systems’ and amid serious concerns about how the service expects to pay for that and other modernization priorities. Continue reading
The Russian company UWCA (Ural works of civil aviation) runs a program to create a family of unmanned/optional-piloted aerial based on existing manned fixed wing aircraft models. It is planned to use the new multipurpose aircraft LMS-901 Baikal and the agricultural aircraft T-500 as the base for creating its primary UAVs. UWCA engineers will equip these aircraft with communication and control systems. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Firebird multi-sensor aircraft showcased the versatility of the optionally-manned autonomous system as it flew to various locations across the United States last month. Continue reading
The Airbus Helicopters VSR700 optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) has successfully achieved fully autonomous takeoff and landing (ATOL) approaches, validating its autonomy to and from a moving platform and advancing the VSR700 programme towards its end goal: offering a tactical unmanned aerial system (UAS) with ATOL capacities for global navies. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman just released this short video showing the optionally-piloted Firebird multi-mission aircraft execute Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) demos from the company’s North Dakota facility. Continue reading
Marking its European debut, Northrop Grumman’s Firebird product line will be showcased at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, in the United Kingdom, July 19-21. Continue reading
This month at the prestigious 19th Integrated Communication, Navigation and Surveillance technologies (ICNS) Conference near Washington, DC, NASA presented the results of significant research recently conducted at the New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport. The ICNS organizers singled out the technical paper for an award as one of the leading presentations at the conference on advances in the UAS field. Continue reading
One of the most exciting developments in aerial surveillance isn’t happening at some shadowy Air Force Base in the middle of Nevada desert, it’s occurring at Mojave Air and Space Port, a bustling bastion of aerospace creativity, located 50 miles to the southeast of Bakersfield, California. There, Northrop Grumman is working hard to make Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft capabilities accessible to a far larger global customer base than what exists today. Continue reading