Defense Systems
Navy's X-47B enters next phase of testing at Pax River
The Navy X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle has arrived at Patuxent Naval Air Station, Md., where it will undergo testing for carrier-based operations that will include the use of catapult and arresting gear.
Defense Systems
Navy readies Switchblade UAV for submarine missions
The Navy plans to launch AreoVironment's small, expendable Switchblade unmanned aerial vehicle from a submerged submarine during a naval exercise next year in the Pacific Ocean.
Defense Systems
Defense bill calls for domestic UAS test sites
The 2012 defense bill calls for six pilot test sites for domestic unmanned aircraft systems, a measure lauded by some and cautioned by others.
Defense Systems
Navy's X-47B on truck trailer mistaken for UFO
Some Kansas residents mistook the fuselage of a Navy X-47B unmanned aircraft being shipped across country by truck for a flying saucer that had been found by public officials.
Defense Systems
Air Force UAV operators face long hours, erratic schedules: survey
About half of the operators of Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles have high levels of job-related stress mostly tied to the long and erratic hours they work.
Defense Systems
Global Hawk sale to South Korea put off for further study
The sale of up to four Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles to South Korea to boost that nation’s reconnaissance capability has been postponed by the U.S. Congress for further study.
Defense Systems
Military prepares MUOS satellite for February launch
Lockheed Martin delivered the Navy’s first Mobile Uses Objective System satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in preparation for launch in February 2012 aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle.
Defense Systems
Marines’ unmanned cargo copter on duty in Afghanistan
The Marine Corps flew its first combat supply mission with an unmanned helicopter on Dec. 17 in Afghanistan.
Defense Systems
Military pushes for more capable sensor inputs for UAVs
Warfighters continue to press for more imagery from a broader range of high-resolution sensors.
Defense Systems
Army seeks hand-launched aerostats for squad intell
The Army's Rapid Equipping Force has issued a request for information for small hand-launched aerostats that would give infantry squads another method to conduct reconnaissance in their immediate areas of operations.
Defense Systems
Iran claims it hijacked RQ-170 by GPS tampering
Iran claims its electronic warfare specialists were able to reconfigure the Global Positioning System coordinates in the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel that it says it captured Dec. 4 and guide the UAV to a safe landing.
Defense Systems
3 reasons UAVs excel at nuclear spying
The ability of unmanned aerial vehicles such as the RQ-170 Sentinel captured by Iran earlier this month to conduct nuclear surveillance greatly outstrips that of satellites and manned spy planes, and therefore it's little surprise the United States has chosen to employ UAVs in that role and risk their possible loss.
Defense Systems
Predator C Avenger bound for testing in Afghanistan
The Air Force has ordered a single Predator C Avenger for deployment to Afghanistan as part of a procurement effort to meet an urgent request from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to field reconnaissance and strike assets in theater.
Defense Systems
US to Iran: Return the downed RQ-170 UAV
President Barack Obama has asked Iranian officials to return the sophisticated RQ-170 Sentinel that crashed in that country on Dec. 4.
Defense Systems
Managing the spectrum for electronic warfare
Col. Rod Mentzer, project manager for Electronic Warfare at the Army PEO IEW&S, discusses efforts to manage the spectrum for all electronic warfare technologies and capabilities.
Defense Systems
Debate boils about what's under the RQ-170's hood
As uncertainty continues to surround RQ-170 drone, experts estimate its ISR capabilities and payload.
Defense Systems
Apache Block III upgrades include UAV link
The Army installed 25 technology upgrades to its Apache attack helicopter in November, one of which enables a pilot in flight to control a drone, access its streaming video and use its sensors for target engagement.
Defense Systems
Captured RQ-170, real or fake? You decide.
With high-resolution images and video readily available on the Web of the recovered RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle that went down in Iran last week, experts familiar with UAV design and journalists who cover the aviation beat are at odds over whether the photographic and video evidence displayed with bravado by Iranian officials is indeed the actual so-called “Beast of Kandahar.”
Defense Systems
US weighed 3 options for destroying downed RQ-170
U.S. officials considered a covert raid to either destroy or recover the wreckage of a stealth RQ-170 unmanned aircraft that crashed in the rugged terrain of Eastern Iran last week.
Defense Systems