In last evening’s post, “The War Widens, Hezbollah Strikes Egyptian, Israeli Ships with UAVs,” we reported the Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian vessel were likely hit with missiles launched from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and not a UAV packed with explosives. The Egyptian vessel was sunk. The latest reporting indicates missiles did indeed strike both ships. “We can confirm that it was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah,” Brigadier General Ido Nehushtan of the Israeli Defense Forces told the Associated Press.
Reuters reports “A military source said a C802 radar-guided missile with a range of 60 miles (100 km) had been fired at the ship as it sat off the coast.” The C802 is also known as the “Noor,” according to NTI. The C802 is the Iranian version of the the Chinese Jing YJ-82, and “Following the 1991 Gulf War Iran imported the C-802 antiship cruise missile from China.” Wikipedia claims Iran purchased up to 60 C802 missiles. The C802 antiship missile can be launched from aircraft.
Source and more info: counterterrorismblog
The final trials of the three-year Joint UAV Experimentation Programme (JUEP) were completed earlier this year. Sqn Ldr Jon Hiscox, SO2 UAV Air at the Royal Air Force’s Air Warfare Centre UAV Battlelab, said that the trials had been a success despite time and budgetary pressures. for acounting reasons the programmes budget had to be spent before the end of the financial year on 31st March. The three year programme has looked at the utility of UAVs in a number of scenarios, but the final trial conducted in the Benbecula proving area of the coast of north-west Scotland broke new ground in its launch, control and recovery of a UAV from a frigate.
For the trials Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland was equipped with a ground control station (GCS) in its helicopter hanger and with a launch catapult and skyhook retrieval system. During the course of the three-week trial the ScanEagle achieved six launches and four retrievals aboard the warship. The Type 23 frigate was also successfully able to demonstrate NATO Level 5 control of the UAV. There was also a second GCS on one of the islands in the trials area and operation of the ScanEagle was successfully passed between the two stations.
John W. Hayn, Boeing International Program Manager Unmanned ISR Systems, told Unmanned Systems that possibly the most technically challenging part of the trials, especially given the financial and time constraints, was the link establised with a Sea King helicopter. QinetiQ was responsible for the alterations to the aircraft which was fitted with an antenna to receive imagery from the ScanEagle and a flat panel display for its dissemination to the aircraft crew. As a result of this the teamwas able to achieve Level 2 control of the UAV from the helicopter. Hayn says that this is a first for any country.
Source and more info: shephard
Protonex Technology Corp has been awarded a second contract by the US Air Force Research Laboratory to continue development of power systems for long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles.
The contract has a total program value of 749,247 usd.
Under the terms of its latest contract, Protonex will further develop a UAV power system that will integrate an advanced chemical hydride fueling solution and a high power fuel cell system, that can achieve 1,000 watts per kilogram.
Source and more info: lse
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in St. Louis, MO received an $18.5 million modification to previously awarded contract for support of II MEF urgent universal need statement for continuation of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services in support of Marine Corps forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). This effort is in support of I/II MEF urgent universal need statement, approved by the Marine Requirement Oversight Council on July 5, 2006, and the statement of need dated May 16, 2006, requesting continuation of services during the transition of I MEF and II MEF in support of OIF-II.
Source and more info: defenseindustrydaily
Over three hundred delegates gathered here for a two day Shephard conference “Tactical to strategic UAV technology: network-enabled capability and the warfighter” Speakers gathered to discuss and examine mainly European issues, with a theme emphasis on the increasingly important area of network interoperability – whether between coalition forces, or between underlying alliance structures. The key challenges have been proven, said Col Nigel Jefferson of the UK Army’s HQ Capabilities Director, HQ RA,.
Wulf Hausen – Project Director for UAVs, Federal office of Defense Technology and Procurement in Germany sees five ‘main theme’ key challenges facing developers of UAS doctrine - FINAS (flight in non-segregated airspace) , frequency spectrum availability, data management, network enabled capability and inter-operability between interested users. He told the audience here today in a keynote address that while all are paramount, all are also capable of being solved by the end of the current decade. Some solutions suggest themselves already – data processing on-board vehicles instead of having to use large amounts of frequency, for example. Hausen says cultural and operational differences across nations in the European context are making these issues particularly difficult. However, ‘they can be solved because these things are understood on a shared basis.’
Source and more info: shephard
The ParcAberporth Unmanned Air Vehicle Centre in west Wales is in talks with the UK Civil Aviation Authority about the potential opening up of designated overland air corridors east of the facility to allow UAV transit flights to nearby Ministry of Defence weapons ranges and exercise areas.
The talks are aimed at increasing opportunities for ParcAberporth to support development of military UAV systems, says Sue Wolfe, strategy and technology manager for the Welsh Assembly government.
Civil applications will remain the overall focus for ParcAberporth, she says, but the talks will also cover options for opening up overland flying areas to augment existing airspace. “We have the opportunity in Cardigan Bay to work over sea, but we are in a good position in terms of topography and the actual airspace usage to be able to put something in for civil operators that want to do some trials over land,” she says.
Source and more info: Flight International
BAE Systems is due to showcase at the Farnborough Air Show some of its hitherto secret UAV and UCAV technology demonstrator work.
BAE formally unveiled its UAV/UCAV technology demonstration programme in February 2006 at a press briefing in London. The company revealed that it had been working on no fewer than six experimental unmanned platforms in secret since 2002: Soarer, Kestrel, Raven, Corax, Herti-D and Herti-A.
The catalyst for the decision to unveil BAE’s UAV/UCAV work was the publication of the UK MoD’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) in December 2005. With its emphasis on the preservation of UK aerospace and defence science and technology (S&T) and research and development (R&D), coupled to a technology-demonstration programme (TDP), the DIS became a suitable framework for bringing BAE’s UAV/UCAV work out into the open.
Indeed, before the launch of these activities, in the 2000-01 timeframe, BAE looked closely at the whole issue of investment and what, if anything, it could bring to the party technologically, beyond the kind of baseline achievements already set by US firms working in the UAV/UCAV arena. The key question, according to BAE’s Director of Sales for Autonomous Airborne Systems Andy Wilson, revolved around the maturity of technological know-how inside BAE: was there enough expertise within the company to demonstrate that UAVs could operate safely and reliably in and out of controlled airspace and could it demonstrate a clear leap forward in capability, at a significant cost reduction over manned aircraft, to justify moving into the unmanned business?
Source and more info: janes
The Australian Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) says it will continue contract negotiations with Boeing Australia and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) for the Australian Army’s Joint Project 129 tactical unmanned air vehicle requirement, despite having asked second-placed contender ADI, teamed with Elbit Systems, to revalidate its Hermes 450 bid.
ADI was approached in late May after DMO negotiations with Boeing Australia, which is offering the IAI I-View 250 system, faltered after five months of talks. Negotiations are believed to have stalled on in-service support issues with the I-View system. Boeing Australia and IAI were named as preferred supplier for the project in mid-December, some two months after the DMO started preliminary negotiations.
The DMO says “contract negotiations have taken much longer than…anticipated or expected. DMO sought clarification from Boeing on a number of critical terms and conditions before announcing them as preferred tenderer. Based on the Boeing response, the DMO was confident that a negotiated outcome could be achieved, and in a reasonable time. During the negotiations, some issues have emerged which have taken longer to resolve than initially expected.”
Source and more info: flightglobal
Use of software and hardware simulation modelling to shorten time to market is the focus of the three-year, $19.2 million European Union Sixth Framework research project, Speculative and Exploratory Design in Systems Engineering (SPEEDS).
The modelling will be aimed at increasing development speed for complex systems such as satellites, civilian unmanned air vehicles, radars and advanced electronics. Software will be modelled before any code is written and hardware simulated before anything is built.
Source and more info: flightglobal
The Israel airline pilots association is demanding that strict rules be applied to the operation of unmanned air vehicles near civil air routes in Israel after two incidents in which it claims UAVs came “dangerously” close to passenger aircraft, writes Arie Egozi.
The demands are included in a letter sent by Capt Dorion Choen-Nov, the association’s chairman, to the general manager of the Israeli civil aviation authority. Choen-Nov claims there have been two recent incidents involving UAVs that endangered passenger aircraft when “they entered areas used by civil aircraft and came uncontrollably near to passenger aircraft”.
This follows an incident earlier this year when a large UAV came close to a passenger aircraft that was on approach to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.
Choen-Nov has demanded immediate action to prevent further incidents, until the issue is settled by law. The main demand is to prohibit the flight of UAVs without Mode C transponders less than 15nm (28km) from civil aircraft routes.
Source and more info: flightglobal
