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    General Atomics Starts Extended-Range Gray Eagle UAS Flight Test

    General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has begun flight testing an extended-range variant of the MQ-1C unmanned aircraft system at the company’s El Mirage flight operations facility in California. The company said Thursday the MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range series is designed to increase endurance and payload capacity of the Gray Eagle UAS platform, which has recorded more than 300,000 flight […] More

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    Report: UAS Satcom, Imaging Markets to Hit $19.9B & $3.7B by 2025

    A new Northern Sky Research report predicts the unmanned aircraft system satellite communications and imaging markets will respectively reach $19.9 billion and $3.7 billion in cumulative revenues over a 10-year period ending 2025. NSR said Monday the defense and intelligence community’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements for operations in hostile areas spur the demand for unmanned airborne […] More

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    Northrop to Support Navy Triton UAV Mgmt Software, Airborne Collision Avoidance Tech

    Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) has received a one-year, $9.6 million order to design, develop, analyze, integrate and test software for the U.S. Navy‘s MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system. The Defense Department said Monday that Northrop will support the vehicle management software correction of deficiencies and integration of configuration updates into the MQ-4C under the cost-plus-fixed-fee order. DoD added the company will analyze and […] More

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    General Atomics ‘Type-Certifiable’ Predator B Completes Maiden Test Flight; Linden Blue Comments

    General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business has completed the first test flight of the type-certifiable variant of the company’s Predator B remotely piloted aircraft during a demonstration held in California. The maiden flight of the type-certifiable Predator B drone occurred Nov. 17 at General Atomics’ Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, the company said Monday. “The first flight […] More

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    DARPA, Navy Set 2018 Tests for Northrop’s Tern Unmanned Air System Prototype

    The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Navy‘s Office of Naval Research aim to commence ground-based and at-sea flight tests of a Northrop Grumman-built prototype unmanned air system in 2018 as part of the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program. DARPA said Thursday its joint Tern project with ONR seeks to utilize forward-deployed small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates as mobile launch […] More

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    Lockheed to Equip Army Radar System with Counter-UAS Tech

    Lockheed Martin has won a two-year, $27.8 million contract to add a counter-unmanned aerial system feature to the U.S. Army‘s AN/TPQ-53 radar system. The Army Contracting Command received four bids for the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract and obligated $4 million in fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds at the time of award, the Defense Department said Wednesday. Lockheed will perform work in Syracuse, New […] More

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    Lockheed Performs Collaborative Demo Between Optionally-Piloted Helicopters and Small UAS

    Lockheed Martin has carried out an demonstration on optionally-piloted helicopters to evaluate small unmanned aerial systems’ capacities to collaborate on search-and-rescue, fire extinguishing and retrieval operations. The defense contractor said Tuesday the exercise involved Kaman K-Max optionally-piloted helicopters and Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft as well as Indago quadrotor and Desert Hawk 3.1 fixed-wing UAS. SARA commercial helicopters were […] More

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    AT&T Joins NASA-Industry UAS Traffic Mgmt Initiative; Mike Leff Comments

    AT&T supports a NASA-led project to research and develop a traffic management system for the agency to manage the safety and security of unmanned aircraft system operations in U.S. airspace. The company said Thursday it aims to contribute networking, internet of things, cloud, identity management and cybersecurity expertise to NASA’s UAS traffic management initiative. “Drones are already used in agriculture, public […] More

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    NASA Taps Near Earth Autonomy to Build, Demo UAS Flight Safety Tech

    Near Earth Autonomy has secured a contract under NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research initiative to help the space agency integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace. Near Earth said Wednesday that it will develop and demonstrate technologies to facilitate safe unmanned aircraft operations in case of emergency situations. The company will also build an autonomous contingency system that can help unmanned aircraft […] More

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    Intel Introduces New Drone Tech for Light Shows

    Intel has unveiled a new unmanned aerial system designed to perform specifically for light shows in a push to redefine entertainment and create new experiences under the night sky. Anil Nanduri, Intel vice president and general manager of unmanned aviation systems for the Perceptual Computing Group, wrote in a blog post published Friday 500 Shooting Star […] More

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    AeroVironment to Update Netherlands’ Small UAS Data Link; Kirk Flittie Comments

    AeroVironment has been awarded a $10.3 million contract by the Netherlands ministry of defense to provide small unmanned aircraft systems and digital data link upgrade services to the Dutch military. The company said Monday it will refresh the DDL system for the Dutch forces’ Raven B, Puma AE  and Wasp AE vehicles as well as ground control systems under the contract. The Netherlands’ defense […] More