UNMANNED SYSTEMS UPDATE
08 May 08. The world’s top manufacturer of aerial drones is pulling out of a
$93m competition to supply surveillance equipment that Canada must acquire by next February as a condition of keeping soldiers in Afghanistan. The move by U.S.-based General Atomics, which makes the well-known Predator drones, reduces the competition for the contract and could leave Ottawa hostage to only one possible supplier: Elbit Systems of Israel and its Hermes pilotless aircraft.
It will also make it more difficult for the Canadian Forces when it comes to interoperability with their U.S. partners in Afghanistan, because the Americans use General Atomics Predator drones for the same mid-level surveillance. Under a Canadian Forces program called Project Noctua – Latin for owl – the military is in a hurry to lease pilotless surveillance aircraft for at least two years to help soldiers battle the Taliban in Afghanistan. (Source: Google)
12 May 08. Raytheon Company has teamed with Swift Engineering, Inc. to provide the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps with an unmanned aircraft system for their respective Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tier 2 missions. Raytheon leads the team and offers aircraft and mission systems integration with connectivity to the customers’ combat systems and command and control systems. Swift Engineering, based in San Clemente, Calif., is providing its innovative KillerBee unmanned aerial vehicle. KillerBee has the ability to insert persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) into the battlespace and rapidly deliver actionable intelligence to combatant commanders. Raytheon Missile Systems leads the integrated team, which includes other Raytheon business units for the ground control system, C4ISR integration, and Mission Support, plus the efforts of Swift Engineering and Optical Alchemy.
12 May 08. AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., was awarded on May 8, 2008, a $45,386,253 firm-fixed price contract for two SHADOW unmanned aerial vehicle systems and associated support equipment. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Md., and is expected to be completed by May 15, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Aug. 16, 2007. U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-08-C-0023).
A-Level Aerosystems has now developed a solution ZANET®. The end product is information distribution, individual analysis, control of UAV and end point information to critical decision makers. Based on ZALA platforms, ZANET® is a global system with capabilities of providing various control capabilities for multiple control operators with remote distance control, the receiving of data and information from onboard the platform with distribution of users. ZANET® offers a final product with total control over the territory, monitoring of sea based and land based boarders. The platform behind used in the project is the ZALA 421-09 with capability of 10.5 hours flight duration. The payload(s) onboard this platform will enable constant surveillance of area (e.g. border patrol, harbour monitoring and mission reconnaissance). The control of the platform can be switched between multiple users once the platform is airborne, this provides the capability of having government and civil departments sharing constant information and sharing control of the platform.
May 08. EdgeTech Side Scan Sonar Installed on REMUS 600 AUVs for the UK Ministry of Defence. EdgeTech’s 2200-S 850 kHz Dynamically Focused Side Scan System will be installed on the Hydroid REMUS 600 AUVs recently ordered by the UK Ministry of Defence. The 850 kHz dynamically focused frequency provides extra high resolution imagery at longer ranges which makes it an ideal tool for Mine Countermeasure (MCM) surveys. The EdgeTech 2200-S systems will also be used by the Royal Navy for hydrographic surveys and environmental assessmen