AAI Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation (NYSE: UIC), has received an order from Honeywell Aerospace for 55 Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) airframes for use in the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Valued at $1.7 million, this funded order extends AAI’s current contract with Honeywell for MAV support until November 2006. In this funding phase, AAI will incorporate new design innovations into the airframe and build and deliver 55 of the advanced prototype vehicles for final system integration.
AAI is a leading designer and manufacturer of tactical unmanned aircraft systems (TUAS), including the highly-regarded Shadow(R) 200 TUAS deployed with U.S. Army units in Operation Iraqi Freedom since 2003.
The MAV is a next-generation 13-inch diameter autonomous surveillance aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It is ruggedly built but is so small and lightweight that it can be carried by an infantryman in a backpack.
“We’ve been perfecting the unique MAV design for more than four years,” said Steve Reid, AAI’s vice president of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. “Using innovative technology and material advances, our engineering team has designed an air vehicle capable of fully autonomous flight that is robust, backpackable, and modular.”
“The MAV can hover and stare as well as fly at altitudes between sea level and 10,000 feet functioning primarily as a scout in urban environments and difficult mountainous terrain,” Reid added. “MAV will keep soldiers out of harm’s way by providing them essential tactical information to successfully execute their mission.”
Source and more info: shephard
While the U.S. Air Force has had great success with its Predator UAVs, the U.S. Army has done even better with its smaller RQ-7B Shadow. The 350 pound UAV can stay in the air for up to 6.7 hours (5 for the “A” model). In nearly three years of use, Shadow’s in Iraq have flown some 40,000 hours, and about 10,000 sorties. The Shadow A UAVs have been averaging about a hundred hours in the air each month. The B model does about 120 hours a month. The brigades use the Shadow for everything from assisting offensive operations (including raids), to patrolling roads looking for IEDs, to watching areas where enemy activity is expected.
Source and more info: Strategy Page
A U.S. military official on Thursday said an unmanned aerial vehicle flown by American troops to help Filipino soldiers fight militants has gone missing and appealed to the public for its return.
The drone disappeared in November and U.S. officers have asked their counterparts in the Philippine military’s Southern Command to help monitor whether the UAV was found, said Lt. Col. Mark Zimmer, a U.S. military spokesman.
He said a cash reward may be given to anybody who turns in the UAV, which costs about $35,000. It was not armed.
Zimmer declined to give details where the drone disappeared or its specific mission. UAVs are normally used to collect surveillance footage and intelligence.
“It’s one of the platforms we use to assist the armed forces of the Philippines to help improve their counterterrorism capabilities,” Zimmer said.
The U.S. military has been training and arming Filipino counterinsurgency forces, including those battling al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations, is active in parts of the region.
Source: airforcetimes
Civic officials in the Sadr City district of Baghdad returned an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to Multinational Division Baghdad today, officials said.
Maj. Gen. Jawad, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, received the aircraft from city officials.
Officials had earlier reported that air-traffic controllers lost contact with the UAV shortly after takeoff from an airfield in Taji at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. But they were aware that it landed within Sadr City.
The aircraft was on a flight in support of Iraqi security forces protecting Muslims participating in the Ashura pilgrimage.
In other news, soldiers from the 2nd and 4th Battalions, 1st Iraqi Army Division, and coalition forces seized and cleared a weapons cache yesterday in west Fallujah.
The cache consisted of eight rockets, four hand grenades, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, two rifles, eight assorted artillery rounds, two propane tanks, ski masks and various radios.
In Afghanistan news, Afghan and coalition forces captured the leader of an improvised-explosive-device cell in Kandahar city last night.
Source and more info: Defense Link
The U.S. Air Force has bought another five MQ-9 Predator B UAVs, for $8.3 million each. The original Predator cost $4.5 million each. The “B” model has less endurance (24 hours compared to 40 hours for the A model), but carries more munitions (1.7 tons). Weapons carried include Hellfire missiles, and 250 or 500 pound smart bombs. Typically, the Predator B will go into action carrying 16 Hellfire missiles. The Predator B is meant to be a hunter-killer UAV. It will go into action looking for targets it can immediately attack. The Predator B has been undergoing tests in combat zones for over five years.
Source: Strategy Page
Germany is the latest country to send it’s UAVs off to war. Ten KZO UAVs are being sent to Afghanistan with the next contingent of German troops. KZO development began, in 1989, as a joint venture between French and German firms, to design and build a new UAV. The French bailed in 1995, but the Germans continued, and the German army ordered eight KZO platoons (each with ten UAVsm two ground stations and support gear) in 1998. The first platoon was not delivered until November, 2005. Deliveries on this order will not be complete until 2007. But to see what the KZO can do in a combat zone, it is being sent off to a combat zone.
The KZO is similar to the U.S. Army Shadow UAV. The KZO weighs 355 pounds, is 7.5 feet long and has an 11.2 foot wingspan. It has a 77 pound payload, can send video and pictures up to 150 kilometers and has an endurance of six hours. Normal speed is 150 kilometers an hour. The KZO takes off from a truck, with the aid of a small rocket. It lands via parachute, and some protective airbags.
Source and more info: Strategy Page
The final dates have now been confirmed for Shephard’s world class UAV Systems events 2006, located in Sydney, Australia (March), London, United Kingdom (July) and now Washington DC, USA (October).
These industry leading and high profile events deliver an unrivalled platform to network with the most senior figures in the UV systems community, in addition to providing a global forum to build your knowledge and update yourself on the very latest developments from our dynamic industry. All three events feature a large exhibition; with companies, manufacturers and suppliers of UV systems and equipment attending from around the globe.
Source and more info: Shephard
North Dakota officials want the state to be a player in the commercial development of unmanned vehicles.
Gov. John Hoeven was among the participants at a workshop Tuesday in Grand Forks to discuss an unmanned aerial vehicle mission at the Grand Forks Air Force Base and potential commercial projects.
The University of North Dakota is to test its first unmanned aerial vehicle, courtesy of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., later this year.
The Pentagon has said UAVs would be part of a new mission for the Grand Forks Air Force Base and Fargo’s Air National Guard unit. UAVs - some of which are known as Shadow, Predator and Hunter_ come in a different sizes. They have been used to collect intelligence in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Source and more info: Forum Communications
Call it a temporary, temporary flight restriction. After much prodding from aviation advocates like the AOPA, the FAA announced the agency has shrunk the 300-mile long, 17-mile wide restriction to less than half that length.
The TFR is still in effect along the Arizona-Mexico border, approximately 100 miles west from the New Mexico border with Arizona — which doesn’t make the organization happy.
“We’re certainly pleased that the FAA has released airspace that the Department of Homeland Security is not currently using for UAV operations,” said Melissa Rudinger, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs. “However, we still object to the use of TFRs for long-term UAV operations.”
Source and more info: Aero-News
A six-week outdoor flight-test programme with a 0.91m (3ft)-diameter, 5.45kg (12lb) unmanned air vehicle has begun in the UK to determine the craft’s ability to cope with wind gusts. The flying saucer-shaped UAV uses the Coanda effect to generate lift.
The GFS-7 remote-controlled, battery-powered test vehicle is made of plywood and propelled by a car radiator fan. It has an endurance of 2-3min. Its inventor, former hovercraft engineer Geoff Hatton, is offering the patented UAV concept for military reconnaissance.
Source and more info: Flight International
