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Unmanned
Technology
Hi-tech search drones
to help New Orleans rescue
Unmanned remote-controlled
airplanes used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may be deployed
to find people trapped in New Orleans' buildings by Hurricane Katrina's
flood waters, a U.S. congressman said on Friday. Five Silver Fox "unmanned
aerial vehicles," or UAVs,
equipped with thermal imaging technology to detect the body heat
of storm survivors, are en route to the crippled city, Pennsylvania
Republican Rep. Curt Weldon said. Weldon, vice chairman
of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, told
reporters in Baton Rouge that he had bypassed government bureaucracy
to obtain the drones from a private company. Full
Story Reuters_ 9/2/05
August, 2005
British robot
frees trapped Russian mini-sub
A British remote-controlled vehicle on Sunday cut away the cables
that had snarled a Russian mini-submarine and its seven-man crew
deep under the Pacific Ocean, and rescuers were preparing for
the sub to surface, a naval spokesman said. Capt. Igor
Dygalo told The Associated Press that the Super Scorpio had freed
the mini-sub from the military antenna that had tangled it some
625 feet below the surface. Full
Story_MSNBC 8/6/05
US defence contractor Northrop Grumman gets $1 billion contract
for prototype X-47B unmanned fighter
Northrop Grumman will build at least three full-scale flight prototypes
for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) over
five years. It is hoped that many unmanned fighters would be networked
and controlled from land or from an aircraft carrier. Boeing is
already developing another drone called the X-45C under the same
operational assessment phase of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System
(J-UCAS) demonstration programme, led by Darpa. J-UCAS aims to find
a stealthy, unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with integrated sensors,
navigation and communications that can operate in the network-centric
battlefield of tomorrow. Full
Story BBC News_ 8/23/04
July, 2004
U.S. military
big presence at this year's Farnborough air show
Show veterans debate whether air shows have outlived their usefulness
but military procurement officials will be shown what to expect
from future warfare. Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman are showing
off prototype models of unmanned fighter planes. Full
Story BBC News_ 7/19/04
June, 2004
For the first
time, aerial drones patrol 350-mile Arizona-Mexico border to secure
the most popular and deadliest corridor used by illegal immigrants
The two unmanned and unarmed aerial vehicles, piloted remotely,
can fly up to 90 mph, detect movement 15 miles away and transmit
live pictures day and night of vast stretches of desert and grasslands
traversed by more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants a day. The
Israeli-made drones are part of a Department of Homeland Security
initiative to arrest and sometimes rescue mostly Mexican immigrants,
many of whom die in their bid to seek a higher standard of living
in the United States. Full
Story Reuters_ 6/25/04
Israeli drones
to search leakiest stretch of U.S.-Mexican border for illegal crossings
Two Hermes 450 drones
leased by the Border Patrol will focus their cameras primarily on
a 220-mile section in Arizona. Capable of flying 20 hours at a time,
the unmanned aircraft will carry cameras with thermal and night
vision capabilities that can detect movement 15 miles away. They
also can read a license plate, view a vehicle's occupants, even
detect weapons, officials said. Full
Story AP/San Francisco Chronicle_ 6/5/04
May, 2004
Miniature helium-filled
airship glides inside UK's York cathedral
Researchers flew the radio-controlled craft inside one of Britain's
most ancient cathedrals to inspect stained-glass windows and inaccessible
stonework. Digital cameras allowed staff to monitor the condition
of the cathedral's 14th-century windows, all of which survived a
1984 fire that gutted the south transept. It makes almost no noise,
in cheaper than scaffolding and was created by students at the nearby
university. Full
Story Reuters/CNN_ 5/11/04
Runaway U.S. mini-sub
found on Norwegian beach
The 3.5 meter (11-foot) mini-sub, or Battlespace Preparation Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle, disappeared April 29 during tests off the port
of Kristiansand in southern Norway. It was found 125 miles to the
north by a man strolling along a beach in western Norway. The submarine
is not remote controlled, but preprogramed before its launch to
search for mines and, if necessary, destroy them. Full
Story AP/CNN_ 5/11/04
Europe's unmanned
space shuttle prototype glided to a successful landing in Sweden
The EADS Phoenix, a German-designed prototype of the future European
Shuttle, was dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 7,900 feet
(2,400 meters). Guided by GPS satellites, the shuttle “landed
perfectly” on the test runway after a 90-second flight, said
Johanna Bergstroem-Roos, of the North European Aerospace Test Range
in Kiruna, 770 miles (1,230 kilometers) north of the capital, Stockholm.
The Phoenix shuttle, along with the Ariane 5 rocket, represents
the European Space Agency’s hope for sending astronauts into
space, but a full-size version won’t be ready for more than
a decade. Full
Story AP/MSNBC_ 5/8/04
April, 2004
UK gives royal
treatment to U.S. drone that arrives uninvited
The US Air Force was left red-faced last year when a drone flew
uninvited into British skies and had to be granted so-called "purple
airspace" usually reserved for Britain's royal family, the
London-based Observer newspaper said Sunday.
The Global Hawk -- an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -- drone reportedly
went astray during recent trials of the spy plane in Germany.
Full
Story AFP/SpaceWar_ 4/11/04
GoldenEye-100
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle successfully completes initial flight test
program
Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation has successfully completed its
initial flight test program for the company's GoldenEye-100 unmanned
aerial vehicle. Flight testing began in September 2003 and all of
the GoldenEye-100's flights, including the first flight last fall,
have been in fully autonomous modes. Full
Story Space Daily_ 4/8/04
Techsphere Systems
International on track for unmanned spherical airship; Airships
will provide superior platform for both defense and telecommunications
One week after announcing
the establishment of Techsphere Systems International's global manufacturing
headquarters in Columbus, Georgia, the company has relocated their
spherical airship to the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta,
Georgia, for continued research and development. They expect to
launch an unmanned test flight early summer 2004. Full
Story Press Release 4/6/04
Feature: The future
of military drones is now
Unmanned aircraft are
slowly becoming full-fledged killing machines -- armed to the teeth,
and designed for the deadliest parts of war. Full
Story Wired News_ 4/1/04
March, 2004
NASA successfully
tests unmanned hypersonic jet
Three years after its first scramjet test flight ended in an explosion,
the X-43A made a 10-second powered flight. Full
Story AP/CNN 3/27/04
Israel unveils
mini drones
The Israeli military is equipping its forces with a new range of
unmanned spy planes small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack,
the army said on Thursday. Full
story BBC News 3/26/04
U.S. debated Predator's
use to pinpoint bin Laden
Intelligence and military officials intensely debated how far to
go using an unmanned aircraft to spy on -- and perhaps attack --
Osama bin Laden in the year before September 11, 2001, according
to preliminary findings of an independent commission investigating
the attacks.
Full
story AP/CNN 3/25/04
NASA's X-43A vehicle
ready for flight
NASA has set Saturday, March 27 for the flight of the experimental
X-43A research vehicle. The unpiloted 12-foot-long vehicle, part
aircraft and part spacecraft, will be dropped from a B-52,aircraft.
No vehicle has ever flown at hypersonic speeds powered by an air-breathing
scramjet engine. Full
story NASA Press Release 3/24/04
New OS for weapons
and communications on the horizon
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is considering developing the
common Operating System (OS) for command and control, communications,
weapons management, mission planning, human interface and other
functions involving unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs).
Full
story UVonline 3/16/04
Scaled Composites
Tests Around-the-World Plane
From the folks working hard on passenger space flight comes a new
single-piloted aircraft to circle the Earth on one tank of gas.
Full
story space.com 3/6/04
General Dynamics and Aeronautics
Defense Systems, LTD Sign Strategic Alliance Agreement
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit
of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), has formed a strategic alliance
with Aeronautics Defense Systems, LTD. The alliance allows
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems to offer Aeronautics’
unmanned aerial systems technologies, including the Unmanned Multi-Application
System (UMASä), to the U.S. market and select international
customers. Full
story (click on News) Press Release 2/19/04
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