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Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has chosen the Singapore Airshow to reveal its latest UAV. The new Super Heron HF is a major update of the Heron 1 that has become a popular choice for medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned missions. “The best just got better,” announced Joseph Weiss, IAI’s president and CEO, at yesterday’s ceremony to unveil the Super Heron HF in the show static display area, adjacent to IAI’s chalet (CD03). At first glance the most obvious new feature of the vehicle is its upturned wingtips, which have been adopted partly to offset the extra weight of other modifications. The most...

PARIS --- France and Britain are due to sign several defense-related agreements during their short Jan. 31 summit meeting at Brize Norton, England, including one to launch joint development of a next-generation anti-ship missile and another to fund a two-year feasibility study for a joint combat UAV. British and French officials have widely briefed the media in advance of the summit to obtain the editorial coverage that both countries’ leaders – British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President François Hollande – need to bolster their domestic standing. The briefings also seek to highlight that, after several fruitless summits in...

The Federal Aviation Administration will authorize test sites for drone aircraft in upstate New York, New Jersey and at least eight other states, the agency said on Monday, but integrating the aircraft into the nation’s airspace, set by Congress for 2015, will be phased in gradually. The agency picked six institutions to operate test locations, which will explore how to set safety standards, how to train and certify their ground-based pilots, how to ensure that the aircraft will operate safely even if they lose their radio links with the ground and, most of all, how to replace the traditional method...

SAN FRANCISCO: Google may be gearing up to build robots that resemble props in science-fiction movies as the ambitious internet company expands into yet another technological frontier. To gather the expertise and research it needs, Google has purchased eight companies that specialize in robotics this year. The acquisitions are being assembled into a new robotics division headed by Andy Rubin, who oversaw Google's development of Android, now the world's leading mobile operating system. Google added more pieces to its growing toolbox of robotics late last week with the purchase of Boston Dynamics, a military contractor that has raised intrigue by...

The US Air Force has secretly developed a new stealth drone for long-range reconnaissance missions that could be operational by 2015, according to a report Friday in an industry magazine. The unmanned drone, dubbed RQ-180, is currently in the testing phase at the top secret Groom Lake air base in Nevada -- the infamous "Area 51" where the Air Force tested the U2 spy planes in the late 1950s, Aviation Week said. The Air Force refused to comment when contacted by AFP. The new aircraft was reportedly built by Northrop Grumann, the company behind the Global Hawk and the X-47B...

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with funding from SwampWorks at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Department of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office (DoD/RRTO) demonstrated the launch of an all-electric, fuel cell-powered, unmanned aerial system (UAS) from a submerged submarine. "Developing disruptive technologies and quickly getting them into the hands of our sailors is what our SwampWorks program is all about," said Craig A. Hughes, Acting Director of Innovation at ONR. The successful submerged launch of a remotely deployed UAS offers a pathway to providing mission critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to the U.S. Navy's...

A new book covering the 2012 presidential campaign uncovers a series of scathing remarks from political figures, but one alleged comment has stirred controversy around President Barack Obama and his administration’s use of targeted drone strikes. Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s book “Double Down: Game Change 2012” notes President Obama commenting on drone strikes, reportedly telling his aides that he’s “really good at killing people.”

ChinaÂ’s buying of German firm risk for Turkish UAV Burak BEKDÄ°L Chinese AvicÂ’s acquisition of German Thielert, leaves the first Turkishmade drone, the Anka, without an engine. Turkish officials are worried that buying of Thielert, engines supplier of Anka, may delay the project It looked entirely like any other business takeover between the Chinese and Germans with no relevance to Turkey. But the news that a Chinese group had acquired the troubled German maker of aircraft engines means Turkey must now find a new engine supplier for its first indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the Anka. Turkish officials and the...

This picture was taken from a pilot passing through Palmdale about a 16 months ago. What appears is a large flying wing type unmanned aircraft with a dorsal intake. The wingspan appears to be right around seventy feet. The aircraft appears here in the smaller of two wide and low slung aircraft shelters, built around 2010, located by the engine test cells, just north of the Northrop Grumman installation at Plant 42.

USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH, at sea (NNS) -- The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first-ever carrier-based arrested landing on board USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia July 10. "By evolving and integrating new technology like the X-47B and the unmanned aircraft to follow, carriers will remain relevant throughout their 50-year lifespan," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Today's demonstration was the first time a tailless, unmanned autonomous aircraft landed on a modern aircraft carrier. This test marks an historic event for naval aviation that Navy leaders believe will impact...

The University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies’ Terrapin One drone is meant to let South African poachers know what “fear the turtle” is all about. On May 26, during the drone’s first night flight, it aided in capturing a group of poachers spotted threatening a mother rhinoceros and her calf. The project — which programs the movements of the drone, loaned to the team by Denver-based manufacturer Falcon UAV — is the creation of Tom Snitch, a member of the Board of Visitors of UMIACS, and institute scientists. Based on the data they gathered during test flights in...

NORFOLK A new era in naval aviation is set to launch from the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush today, if all goes according to plan. For the first time ever, the Navy plans to catapult an unmanned aerial vehicle off a carrier flight deck, marking a strategic technological shift in naval aviation. The launch of the prototype X-47B from the Bush, steaming off the Virginia coast, follows months of shore-based launch tests at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The objective: to show that automated aircraft can play an active role in air warfare operations at sea. "The addition...

The US Navy's quieter way to spy, the Ion Tiger, just bested its own 2009 flight record with a key assist from liquid hydrogen. The unmanned aerial vehicle had previously relied on 5000-psi compressed hydrogen for fuel, but for its latest flight test the Naval Research team swapped that out for a new cryogenic tank and delivery system that relies on the liquid stuff; a choice made for the element's increased density. With that one significant change in place, the craft was able to outperform its last endurance run of 26 hours and two minutes by almost double, lasting 48...

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completes its first shore-based arrested landing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. May 4.

What is the V1-VR terrorist runway kill zone (RKZ)? The RKZ is a zone on an airport takeoff runway between two points called V1 and VR that every large multi-engine jet aircraft, such as Air Force One, must pass through while taking off. Here is a cockpit video of a 747-400 where the co-pilot can be heard to call out “V1″ at 1:24 and then call out “rotate” (VR) at 1:30, as required for all takeoffs. The runway zone travelled by the aircraft in the 6 seconds between V1 and VR for this takeoff is the RKZ. If any two...

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 26 (UPI) -- Israel, which has the most advanced defense industry in the Middle East, is in the forefront of the rapidly expanding drone business that's changing the way wars will be fought for decades to come. With state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries, Elbit Systems and Aeronautics Defense Systems developing new and more agile unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as ground and seaborne drones, the Jewish state seems well-placed to corner a big slice of a market valued at around $50 billion a year. Indeed, Israel's widely considered to be the leading UAV exporter in the world,...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in a helicopter flight on the way to a tour of northern Israel, when the IAF spotted what is believed to have been a Hizbullah UAV in the skies of Haifa Thursday. The prime minister's staff, in consultation with security elements, decided to take no chances and instructed the helicopter pilot to land for a short time, until the successful interception of the UAV. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) penetrated Israeli air space from Lebanon Thursday, and was shot down. At around 2:00 p.m. Israel time (11:00 GMT), IAF aircraft belonging to the aerial defense...

Washington, D.C. 09 April (Asiantribune.com): It has been reported that an American military airstrike in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, April 6 that targeted a senior Taliban commander finally ended up in killing 18 people including women and children. Following an intense fighting on the ground American air support was called to flatten the home of the commander whose name has been released as Ali Khan In addition to killing Ali Khan and several other Taliban fighters, at least 10 children died, and at least 5 women were wounded, said Abdul Zahir Safi, the governor of the Shigal district, where the...

The Pentagon is cancelling a controversial medal designed to recognize contributions of unmanned aerial vehicle pilots and cyber troops, according to a Monday memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel obtained by USNI News.

Germany 'may buy weaponised drones from Israel' (AFP) – 13 hours ago BERLIN — Germany is in talks with Israel to buy weaponised drones for its military that are seen as more technologically advanced than US ones, the weekly Der Spiegel reported. The news magazine's Monday edition said the German defence ministry had already held two meetings with Israeli military officials, in November 2012 and February 2013, on the proposed purchase. The chief of Germany's air force, Lieutenant General Karl Muellner, was said to have recently gone to Israel to attend a presentation of Israel's Heron TP drone, Der Spiegel...