17 Dec 07. AAI Corporation has received an order from the U.S. Army for production of 14 additional Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS). The value of the not-to-exceed contract is $153.4m and includes immediate funding of $75.2m. (Source: Shephard)

17 Dec 07. General Dynamics Robotic Systems successfully completed Phase I of the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Robotic Convoy Experiment (RCX) at White Sands Missile Range. The unmanned Stryker vehicle reached speeds up to 55 kilometers per hour (34 mph). As part of the company’s Autonomous Navigation System contract with the U.S. Army, the Phase I experiment is designed to test basic robotic convoy functionality and accuracy with obstacle detection and avoidance technology. The test vehicles were a Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle and Light
Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV).

15 Dec 07. Text of report by Turkish newspaper Turkiye’de Aksam website on 11 December. The first mini unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that has been jointly manufactured by two Turkish companies, Kalekalip and Baykar Makina [Machine], has been named “Bayraktar.” According to the contract, the companies will deliver 76 mini UAV’s to the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] until the end of 2008. The mini UAV’s which are fully manufactured locally are able to remain airborne for approximately two hours. The UAV’s have a range of 15 to 20 kilometres. The photographs taken by the two cameras in the UAV are transmitted to the intelligence headquarters via the satellites. In answer to the soldiers who had noted that “[the UAV’s] are cheap and have great contributions,” Prime Minister Erdogan had said: “We should not have deficiencies in this regard.” With the mini UAV’s the TSK will determine the places of the terrorists living on the higher parts of the mountains. The UAV’s which will be used as of January have been produced with two different characteristics – with batteries and with gasoline. The range of the vehicles which are able to remain airborne for approximately two hours includes an area with a diameter of 15 to 20 kilometres. With its night vision ability, it will also be possible to use Bayraktar at nights. (Source: Google)

Dec 07. Saab Seaeye launches the Panther XT, a more powerful, deeper swimming version of the Panther Plus ROV. Saab Seaeye has launched the Panther XT, a more powerful, deeper swimming version of their successful Panther Plus ROV with a much greater tooling capability. It comes as world sales of the Panther range of electric work-class ROVs exceed 30 vehicles and extends the operational boundaries of the existing Panther models. ROV operators will benefit from new technology that has doubled thruster power and significantly increased performance. This comes through innovative design by Saab Seaeye engineers that has increased the thruster motor voltage from 250v to 500v. (Source: Shephard)