A young scientist from the Technion has developed a system that will allow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to attack terrorist targets in group formation. The new method which is based on the natural movement of flocks of animals will be able to distinguish between civilians and enemy targets even in highly populated areas and perform its mission with more accuracy and flexibility than any single UAV.
Source and more info: isracast.com
The European Defense Agency (EDA) has funded a small but unprecedented contract with industry for a technological analysis of long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The contract, worth about 700,000 euros ($840,000), marks the first time the agency has awarded a feasibility study in this area.
The EDA’s first such contract was awarded in April to NATO’s command-and-control agency to study battlefield and communications capabilities that the EU’s future peacekeeping force will need to manage crises.
The new UAV contract, awarded Dec. 14 to a consortium led by Finland’s Patria group, covers digital line-of-sight technologies and over-the-horizon data links using satellite or relay stations. Long-endurance UAVs are expected to play an increasingly strategic role in airborne surveillance and collection of intelligence.
Patria, along with Finnish co-contractor Instrumentointi Oy, has 20 years’ experience working with the Finnish Air Force’s data link program, and the two companies have collaborated on Finnish UAV systems and network-centric architecture, the agency said.
Source and more info: DefenseNews
The United Arab Emirates air force’s unmanned air vehicle research and technology centre has nearly finished a two-year effort to develop an integrated vertical take-off and landing tactical UAV system. Production approvals are awaited for the Al Sber derivative of the Schiebel S-100 air vehicle.
The centre has also started assessing the potential for tethered aerostats to form part of the UAE’s future border surveillance system, with a single demonstration system acquired from US-based TCOM.
The aerostat has a 90kg (200lb) payload capacity and will be fitted with electro-optic and radar sensors. In operational use, the air vehicle would be elevated to an altitude of 1000-1,300ft (300-400m) and remain airborne for four to five days. Data generated by the system would be processed using the UAE’s new common UAV ground station, developed by Ucon Systems and the centre as part of the VTOL UAV technology demonstration. Ucon received its initial contracts to take part in the programme in August 2004.
The aerostat trials programme is expected to continue for at least two years and could lead to a multi-system acquisition.
Source: Flight International
