08 Oct 09. Northrop Grumman Corporation and EADS Defence & Security (DS) introduced the first Euro Hawk® unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in an unveiling ceremony today at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., facility. The Euro Hawk® marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAS, and solidifies Northrop Grumman’s first transatlantic cooperation with Germany and DS. More than 300 employees from Northrop Grumman and DS and officials from the German Air Force and Ministry of Defence (MoD) gathered today for the ceremony, which concluded in a dramatic curtain drop revealing the distinctively different aircraft that will be equipped with German sensors.
05 Oct 09. U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded L-3 Communications’ Geneva Aerospace division a contract for expeditionary unmanned systems. This contract has a potential value of $250m over five years. L-3 will provide its Viking 400 Unmanned Aircraft System, along with training and sustaining engineering for SOCOM’s Expeditionary Unmanned Aircraft System (EUAS) program. (Source: Google)
08 Oct 09. Insitu Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, and Harris Corporation today announced the successful demonstration of a Single-channel Ground and Airborne UHF/VHF Radio Relay System on the Integrator Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) during a Communications Relay
Payload (CRP) test flight in Eastern Oregon. Harris Corporation is one of
Insitu’s team members for the small tactical unmanned aircraft system (STUAS)/Tier II competition. The Integrator UAS, outfitted with a relay based upon the field proven Harris Falcon III (AN/PRC-152) radios, enables mobile ground units to relay voice and data with an extensive end-to-end reach. Communications relay supported by an airborne asset is essential in situations where line of sight obstructions exist. The demonstration represents a culmination of development efforts spanning several years to provide the war fighter with ground communication capabilities.“Integrator was designed to meet the evolving needs of our customers and is based on the experience Insitu has garnered working in theater over the last five years. We are very pleased that Integrator continues to demonstrate key technologies and capabilities critical to meet the objectives of our customers,” said Insitu Vice President of Emerging Programs Bill Clark. “Integrating the CRP into the Integrator UAS was easy and very straight forward. The design of the Integrator UAS allows for true ease of payload integration as evidenced in our quick installation, ground checks and flight. I attribute that ease and our success to Integrator’s modular payload design,” said Eric Petkus, advanced programs engineer, Harris Government Communications Systems Division. The UHF/VHF relay provides a variety of frequencies and waveforms, including Single-Channel Ground-Air Radio System (SINCGARS) and extends the range between users for voice and data communications, including chat text, instant messaging and imagery. (Source: Google)
08 Oct 09. Lockheed Martin recently completed a successful test of a new infrared sensor turret aboard its Desert Hawk III Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), marking the first time a small UAS has flown with a 360-degree infrared sensor. Battle-proven, the hand-launched Desert Hawk III has provided the British Army with critical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The small UAS (54-inch wingspan) is specifically designed to operate at high altitudes, in high winds and extreme temperatures. Successful flight tests of the Desert Hawk III’s new payload offering, held September 23- 24 at the Minnesota National Guard’s Camp Ripley unmanned vehicle proving grounds, validate the UAS’s ability to greatly improve nighttime ISR for ground forces. By providing 360-degree infrared coverage, troops obtain greater target location accu