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08 Dec 17. Northrop Tests Disposable Reconnaissance Drone. Northrop Grumman has developed a small, disposable drone that fits inside a shell that looks like a cluster bomb. The idea: When an F/A-18 drops the fake munition, the drone would pop out, unfold its wings and fly into enemy territory, undetected, to collect data on enemy positions.
Northrop conducted a flight test of the new drone, dubbed Remedy, on Oct. 26. The demonstration showed that the unmanned plane could share sensor and intelligence data with manned aircraft. The next step will be making sure it can unfold in the air and take flight. Engineers anticipate completing the research and development in 2019. The Office of Naval Research is a partner on the program, as is a small engineering outfit called VX Aerospace.
“The issue with unmanned airframes is, for all their advantages, how do you get something this small 400, 700 miles away from an aircraft carrier?” John “JJ” Thompson, the campaign director for Northrop’s airborne C4ISR division, told reporters at one of the company’s research and construction facilities near Baltimore.
Once the capsule is released, the drone would be pulled out by a parachute, unfold its 12-foot wings, and power up a small, wooden propeller. Remedy has a 10-hour flight time, at 69 knots.
That size is rather small and that pace incredibly slow for military aircraft, which is part of the point, said Thompson. The plane’s slowness makes it look like a bird to many types of military radar.
“When you think about how military [radar] systems are designed, they are designed to shoot down tactical jets. You build into radars gates that take away things like birds.” he said.
Case in point, the lawnmower engine-powered gyrocopter that Douglas Hughes, a Florida man used in 2015 to fly from Pennsylvania to Capitol Hill, all while evading detection by a sophisticated, expensive military blimp — technically, an aerostat — outfitted with radars to detect missiles and enemy aircraft. The Northrop drone is supposed to fly high enough to avoid enemies with small weapons, but low and slow enough to evade radar.
In theory, a Remedy could be outfitted with weapons and turned into a slow but highly maneuverable missile. But the military’s interest right now is in outfitting it with sensors and cameras for intelligence and reconnaissance, said Thompson.
“We’ll send in these as a swarm. They’ll begin to do search patterns for where we believe — in this general area is — this object that we are searching for. Could be [searching for] theatre ballistic missile, long range engagement radar, short-range engagement radar,” he said. (Source: UAS VISION/Defense One)
06 Dec 17. SkyOne UAS completes 100km flight. SkyX Systems has successfully completed a data collection flight of 100km with its SkyOne UAS, the company announced on 4 December.
The UAS flew an autonomous data mission over more than 100km of gas pipeline in Mexico. The flight was programmed and monitored remotely from the company’s Greater Toronto Area SkyCenter mission control, with a support crew of engineers on the ground in Mexico.
The SkyX System consists of the UAS, the SkyCenter control room, which allows for real-time and secure mission monitoring from remote locations; and SkyBoxes, which allow SkyOne to recharge and continue long-range missions.
During the flight, the UAS gathered data that identified more than 200 geo-referenced anomalies along the remote pipeline – ranging from unauthorised buildings and cultivation, through to a fissure possibly caused by seismic activity – for further investigation.
Didi Horn, founder and CEO of SkyX, said: ‘We have proven our solution in a rugged environment which presented network communications challenges. Our Mexican partner was stunned not only by our results, but by the speed and accurac