Swedish unmanned helicopter company CybAero has gained a new shareholder. Subversive Capital, a US fund, has acquired the remainder of California-based AeroVironment’s CybAero holding.
Category Archives: VTOL
Fire Scout Makes 11 Hour Long-Range Flight
The MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter has made an 11-hour, long-range flight. During an endurance demonstration from Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, the Fire Scout flew 150 miles and 11 hours on a planned 10-hour flight, and still had an hour’s fuel in reserve, according to a Northrop Grumman announcement. Continue reading
Robotic Landing Gear for Helicopters
Helicopters are incredibly manoeuvrable in the air, but during landing and takeoff their traditional skid- and wheel-based landing gear requires stable, flat surfaces—surfaces that are often unavailable in helicopter-needy environs such as forward operating areas, ships at sea and natural-disaster zones. Having the ability to land on and take off from angled, irregular and moving surfaces would greatly expand the effectiveness of helicopters across many military and national security missions. Continue reading
AgustaWestland Completes UK MoD Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial System Concept Demonstration
Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland has announced that it has completed the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial System (RWUAS) Capability Concept Demonstration (CCD) contract it was awarded in 2013, including 27 hours of demonstration flying and 22 automatic simulated deck landings using its SW-4 RUAS Solo technology demonstrator. Continue reading
Falling Drone Injures 11-Month Girl in Pasadena
A falling drone cut and bruised an 11-month-old girl in a stroller at an event Saturday, according to the Pasadena Police Department. Police said a 24-year-old man lost control of his DJI Inspire 1, a camera-carrying quadcopter costing nearly $3,000, causing it to crash to the ground outside of City Hall during a movie screening.
Sony VTOL UAV Prototype Test Flight
Aerosense, Sony Corp.’s joint-venture drone company, has unveiled a prototype of the flying machines it will use to serve business customers. Continue reading
Russian Helicopters Unmanned Tiltrotor Concept
Yak Albatros
Russian Helicopters has expressed new interest in developing tilt-rotor technologies that could be used to design a new family of unmanned and potentially even manned aircraft.
Trimble Launches ZX5 Multi-Rotor
Trimble has announced the ZX5 Multirotor Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a new aerial imaging and workflow solution that captures and processes geo-referenced photo and video data for mapping, agriculture and inspection applications. Continue reading