A European market for civil unmanned air vehicles worth up to €1.2 billion ($1.45 billion) by 2015 is “on the brink of being realised”, says a new roadmap developed by the European Commission-funded UAVNET project.
The roadmap proposes the launching of a five-phase European civil UAV technology demonstration programme for new high-altitude and medium-altitude long-endurance, rotary-wing and mini systems over six years as part of the European strategic research agenda. Supporting technology development programmes would be spread across all 25 European Union member states.
Source and more info: Flight International
ingapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) has delivered its first production unmanned air vehicle – a short-range, hand-launched reconnaissance aircraft – to the Singaporean army.
ST Aero says it delivered the first of four Skyblade II UAVs in late January, with two more to follow in February and the last to be handed over during March.
Singapore last year agreed to acquire the UAVs after ST Aero developed the improved Skyblade II incorporating modifications requested by the country’s army. The company added an interchangeable payload module and doubled the platform’s endurance to 2h against the performance of the original Skyblade airframe (Flight International, 4-10 April 2005). Intended for over-the-hill reconnaissance missions, the Skyblade II has a range of up to 8km (4.3nm) and can fly at up to 70kt (130km/h). ST Aero has previously experimented with several UAV concepts, including the vertical take-off and landing Fantail and a multirole autonomous vehicle demonstrator, but this represents its first production order.
Source and more info: Flight International
Development of a European market for civil unmanned air vehicles will surge dramatically around 2009-10 as air traffic integration and certification issues are overcome, says the newly released European civil UAV roadmap.
It says Europe needs to act now to take the lead in developing the technologies to meet this burgeoning market.
The roadmap has come out of two projects: the European Commission-funded UAVNET and Civil UAV Applications and Economic Effectivity of Potential Configurations (CAPECON). The roadmap projects the civil UAV market will double from forecast new revenues of €8.5 million ($10.5 million) in 2006 to €15.5 million in 2007. By 2008 revenues will have doubled again to €31 million.
Source and more info: Flight International
Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense contractor, is providing the University of North Dakota’s aerospace school with specialized training and access to an unmanned aerial vehicle, the school says.
“We will have an operational UAV available for test flights as early as this spring,” Bruce Smith, dean of UND’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Science, said Friday.
Smith said UND also is trying to get a $3.4 million grant from the state’s Centers of Excellence Commission for UAV research and development. He said the grant would help create up to 75 jobs in Grand Forks and help develop a curriculum “for anyone who touches a UAV.”
Source and more info: in-forum
When it comes to the future of military aircraft, unmanned planes seems to be where the United States is heading. The Department of Defense has been extremely impressed with the performance of the X-45A test program along with the combat performance of the unmmanned Predator drone. The US Air Force and Navy are currently developing the next generation X-45C UAV and it is quite an impressive platform in its own right.
The X-45C, an outgrowth of the developmental X-45A, uses a composite skin over an aluminum frame and incorporates stealth techniques pioneered on the F-117 Nighthawk and carried forward on the B-2 Spirit and F-22A Raptor. It has a cruising speed of 650MPH, a service ceiling of 40,000 feet and an operational range of 1,300 miles. The X-45C is also capable of carrying eight 250 lb bombs in its internal weapons bay. The estimated cost for each plane is $30 million (compared to for a $133 million single F-22A Raptor).
Source and more info: DailyTech
Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc., has announced that its TR918 Eagle Eye Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) lifted off the ground for the first time today when it achieved the first flight milestone in this ground breaking, vertical-lift unmanned aircraft program. At 8:54 a.m. (CST) the vehicle lifted vertically off the ground hovered for nine minutes, executed yaw and translation maneuvers and then landed safely on the ground. The vehicle flew a second flight within 30 minutes of the maiden flight’s landing.
“This is a tremendous achievement for Bell Helicopter and our Team Eagle Eye partners,” said Mike Redenbaugh, chief executive officer of Bell Helicopter. “An immense amount of effort and dedication has gone into getting this aircraft in the air successfully.”
Source and more info: Shephard
Political ties between Turkey and the United States have mostly recovered since a 2003 nadir over Iraq disputes, but this time serious problems are looming in the two allies’ traditionally close defense industry relationship.
Once a lucrative defense market for the United States, Turkey recently has become a trouble spot for America’s top manufacturers, with two critical procurement programs lost against European and other rivals in 2005 and an even gloomier picture in sight this year for two other major contracts.
In 2005 one U.S. manufacturer lost a key unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) contract to an Israeli competitor and two U.S. companies failed to bid for one of Turkey’s largest contests — for procurement of attack helicopters. This year, Turkey may withdraw from the Pentagon’s largest ever program to build fighters, and an American contender may be forced to refrain from bidding for a utility helicopter deal.
Source and more info: Turkish Daily News
In the dark, pre-dawn hours of Friday, the 13th of January, near the Afghan-Pakistani border, the buzz of an unmanned robot plane broke the silence. Half a world and 12-and-a-half time zones away, someone on the sixth floor of CIA headquarters keyed a command into a computer. The digitized message, relayed through the building’s circuitry and transmitted skyward, bounced along an array of aircraft and satellites before arriving at the RQ-1 Predator drone plane hovering above the Bajaur region of Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). Four AGM-114N Hellfire II missiles, each purchased by American taxpayers from Lockheed Martin at a cost of $45,000, streaked off toward the hamlet of Damadola, five miles into Pakistan.
The four missiles, each carrying enough explosives to take out an armored vehicle, slammed into three local jewelers’ houses at 950 miles per hour, nearly twice the speed of a passenger jet at cruising altitude. “The houses have been razed,” reported a neighbor, a member of the Pakistani parliament. “There is nothing left. Pieces of the missiles are scattered all around. Everything has been blackened in a 100-yard radius.” The target of this latest assassination attempt via missile strike, al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, wasn’t there. At least 22 innocent civilians, including five women and five children, were killed. “They acted on wrong information,” a Pakistani intelligence official said of the Americans.
Source and more info: Boise Weekly
The Navy’s Unmanned Aerial System program office, and the Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (VTUAV) Program completed a major developmental milestone as the VTUAV system completed nine autonomous landings aboard USS Nashville (LPD 13). One air vehicle performed the initial tests with three landings Jan. 16, and a second air vehicle was launched Jan. 17 to complete the testing.
This is the first time a major defense autonomous UAV acquisition program has completed a landing aboard a fleet vessel.
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Autonomous Fire Scout UAV Lands on Ship
An airspace restriction along the international boundary has drastically reduced flights coming into the Nogales International Airport. Ironically, the mandate won’t affect most airport traffic.
Larry Tiffen, airport manager, said he has seen a significant drop in business since the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction (TFR) earlier this month. The TFR requires pilots flying at 18,000 feet to maintain radio and radar contact while passing through the area every night for the rest of the year.
Pilots, fearful of FAA sanctions, tend to avoid areas mentioned in TFRs altogether, Tiffen explained.
“It’s having a negative financial impact on the airport,” he said, pointing out that most planes coming to the airport are flying at altitudes ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 feet. As such, the TFR would not apply to them.
“Above or below 18,000 feet, it’s business as usual,” he said.
UAV flights
The restriction was put in place because of unmanned aerial vehicle flights monitoring illegal cross-border traffic. The U.S. Border Patrol uses a Predator B UAV at night as part of its border control strategy, said Salvador Zamora, agency spokesman in Washington, D.C.
Zamora said UAV flights fall under FAA regulations, just like any other air traffic. The Predator B flies at altitudes greater than 15,000 feet, which creates a unique situation for an agency with lots of experience with aircraft, he said, explaining that most airplanes and helicopters used by Customs and Border Protection fly at much lower altitudes.
Source and more info: Nogales International
