Sponsored by The British Robotics Seed Fund
http: www.britbots.com/fund
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18 Sep 18. Tellumat, a South African leader in defence and security products, systems and services supply, will introduce their ASTUS unmanned aerial system (UAS) to the market at the 2018 Africa Aerospace & Defence Expo in Pretoria. ASTUS is Tellumat’s first foray into full-scale UAS systems provision, having developed, manufactured and supported market-leading UAS sub-systems for more than 30 years. The market introduction of ASTUS further entrenches South Africa’s position in the global UAS/UAV industry, says Willie Malan, senior product manager at Tellumat.
The ASTUS system
The ASTUS UAS is a medium-size, medium-range tactical surveillance UAV system, suitable for lengthy missions requiring real-time surveillance data collection and delivery for a variety of missions such as border and coastal security, environmental protection and peacekeeping. It can also be used in the training of UAS pilots for beyond line of sight operations of larger UAV’s.
The system integrates an aircraft, ground control system and camera payload capability, in a high-performance surveillance package that is robust, durable, easily transported, quick to deploy and easy to operate. The ASTUS UAS has a minimum crew requirement of four, comprising a pilot, payload operator, safety pilot and an aircraft technician.
“With UAS demand taking off worldwide, ASTUS provides high-end UAV performance in a medium sized, cost-effective package” Malan says.
- The aircraft
The ASTUS UAV has the following key features:
- 5.2-metre wingspan with 92 kg maximum take-off weight including payload
- 210 cc fuel-injected 2-stroke motor
- 8 hours flight time at 5,000 feet above sea level
- Operating altitude – 9,000 feet; service ceiling – 14,000 feet
- Dash speed – 80 knots; cruising – 55-60 knots; take-off – 40 knots; stall – 33 knots
- Visibility and air traffic safety – navigation strobe lights; landing light; Mode S & ADS-B ATC transponder; VHF radio
- Core avionics package – Tellumat-designed flight mission computer; sensor pack; health control unit; long-range C-Band video & data link system; commercial-off-the-shelf UHF backup data link; power management unit
- Integrated long-range secure communication system supporting HD video & data downlink; control uplink exceeding 200 km line of sight
- Payload capability
The ASTUS UAV can accommodate various types of payloads with a maximum mass of 10kg, including a best-in-class optical/thermal payload in the standard configuration (maximum diameter 250 mm) and a Tellumat-designed training payload. Payload control and monitoring is available via the on-board Ethernet and serial data interfaces.
- Piloting and control
The modular and portable ground control station (GCS) can be networked to allow control of the ASTUS UAV by more than one pilot and payload operator geographically separated across the mission area. It consists of an operator control unit (OCU) and ground data terminal (GDT) that offer flight and mission control management of the ASTUS UAV. The robust OCUs are housed in a waterproof container and incorporate sunlight-readable, full-HD, touch screen monitors.
The GDT provides the long-range ground communication element of the UAS. It is incorporated into a small, tripod-mounted automatic GPS monitoring and precision positioning system, the robust and weather-proof AP-1100.
- Auxiliary equipment
The ASTUS UAS is provided with all the necessary support equipment, operational spares and base spares to allow for extended operations without external support.
Your trusted UAS partner
Having developed, manufactured and supported UAS sub-systems since the mid-1980s, Tellumat embarked on a project to develop a complete UAS system in 2007.
Over the years, Tellumat has developed a family of UAS avionics including a flight mission computer, navigation sensor pack, health monitoring unit, new-generation digital data link and hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) system. Tellumat’s first prototype aircraft design and integration began in 2011, and a second-generation aircraft prototype was completed in early 2017, followed by the full-scale industrialisation of the UAS culminating in the market launch of the ASTUS at AAD 2018.
“The ASTUS UAS provides Tellumat with a new market offering to add to its already diverse defence and security portfolio of products, systems and services,” says Malan.
The ASTUS project further advances South Africa’s place on the world UAV/UAS vendor map. South Africa was an early entrant in the global UAS industry and ASTUS is a cost effective and complimentary offering to other established UAS systems available. Already garnering export interest, ASTUS is poised to be a foreign exchange earner for the South African economy.
17 Sep 18. Russian roboticist sees all-but-lethal autonomous weapon systems by 2030. In the complexity of war, pressing the trigger still carries significant weight. It is the definitive moment, the act around which entire chains of command, industrial complexes, logistical chains, and political rationales are built. And soon, the decision to press the trigger may be the last part of battle left up to humans, even if it’s mechanical fingers that actually do the shooting.
“Today, an operator makes most decisions for existing robots – in the future, military drones will make all decisions except firing the weapon,” said Mikhail Medvedev, director of a robotics institute at the Southern Federal University in Russia’s Rostov Oblast. The comments came while outlining a broader vision of a Russian military made up of mostly autonomous robots by 2030.
But first, the future of autonomous weapon systems seems to keep bleeding into the present. Medvedev suggested that we might start seeing autonomous machines deployed as early as 2023. That seems overly optimistic, since early battlefield tests of robots like Russia’s Uran-9 were underwhelming at best.
More interesting is that Medvedev cites Russia’s official military robotics roadmap for a timeline, a document that also calls for a rising share of unmanned and robotics technology in the armed forces. Modernization into the 2020s may have the characteristics of a parallel arms race, where countries iterate on similar machines and reach different conclusions about doctrine, like we saw with tanks in the interregnum between the world wars. At this stage, even if the machines don’t quite work yet, the goal of autonomous machines on the battlefield and doing the fighting is enough to shape how other nations plan their own acquisition strategies.
“There is a lot of development and lots of R&D work in this area, and Russia sees itself in a technological race against the United States/NATO,” says Samuel Bendett, a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, “so a potential breakthrough in autonomous military systems may be possible.”
Medvedev’s work also fits into the broader Russian effort to sponsor student competitions and special degree programs around designing new military robots. These efforts are rebuilding military industrial pipelines that had fallen out of use for decades. The end result, should it come to fruition, will be a military in which robots do most of the moving and targeting, and humans remotely press the triggers. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
17 Sep 18. Boeing unit launches new military drone. Insitu Inc, a unit of Boeing Co (BA.N), on Monday launched a military drone enabled with satellite communications and an extended range of operations aiming to land both U.S. and international customers. The Integrator Extended Range, which features high-quality full motion video during flight and more secure jam-resistant networks, would deliver “significantly reduced cost” compared with other contracted medium-altitude drones, the unit said.
Don Williamson, Intsitu’s vice president for defence, said the drone is the first of its size to provide this level of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance without the need for a paved runway.
“All warfighting units and coalition partners can have access to what was once a limited resource, getting this much-needed capability in the hands of the warfighter at a fraction of the cost of any current system available today,” Insitu Chief Executive Officer Esina Alic said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump has eased rules for exporting some types of lethal U.S.-made drones to potentially dozens more allies and partners. (Source: Reuters)
17 Sep 18. Croatia to establish Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems. The Croatian government announced on 13 September that the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) would return to Pula airfield on the Istria peninsula, some 190 km southwest of Zagreb, after abandoning it in 2012.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to base 150 troops from the CAF’s support command, reserve infantry regiments of the Croatian Army, and a yet-to-be-established Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUAS) at the airfield. The Zagreb-based daily newspaper Jutarnji List reported on 12 September that the CUAS would operate six Agriculture Ministry Aeronautics Defence Orbiter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) ordered in May and four existing Elbit Skylark 1 UAVs. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Sep 18. On August 7, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) completed the first-ever automated landing of an MQ-9 Block 5 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), followed by the first auto-takeoff on August 9. The new Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC) was developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to enhance mission capability.
“This new, all-weather capability greatly increases the autonomy, flexibility, combat effectiveness and safety of the MQ-9 Reaper for the USAF,” said David R. Alexander, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI. “Adding this level of automation will reduce the deployment burden of the warfighter and expand the scope of missions that can be flown by Air Force MQ-9s.”
By automating the takeoff and landing of the RPA, ATLC helps to increase the safety and efficiency of the air crews. The auto launch and recovery during these critical phases of RPA flight also enlarges the operational envelope for cross wind operations. The ATLC development program remains on track for fielding in the fall of 2019.
14 Sep 18. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) began flight tests for MQ-8C Fire Scout aircraft produced in Moss Point at the Trent Lott International Airport, a major milestone for the company and the region’s aerospace economy. Northrop Grumman’s Moss Point facility is key to producing and testing the MQ-8C Fire Scout, the U.S. Navy’s newest autonomous helicopter that is bringing increased speed, endurance and payload capacity to distributed maritime operations. The U.S. Navy recently completed initial operational test and evaluation aboard the USS Coronado (LCS 4) for the MQ-8C Fire Scout, which has over 1,500 program flight hours. The aircraft is a modified Bell 407 helicopter that is produced in Moss Point and supports quality manufacturing jobs in Mississippi.
“Building on Northrop Grumman’s recent announcement of new production capabilities in Moss Point and a 40 percent increase in employment at the site, the ability to now conduct MQ-8C Fire Scout flight tests where the production occurs will bring new efficiencies and effectiveness to our local operations and improve our ability to serve the U.S. Navy,” said Melissa Packwood, program director, Fire Scout, Northrop Grumman.
In June, elected officials joined local employees to cut the ribbon on the new machine shop section that delivers important capabilities at Northrop Grumman’s Moss Point manufacturing center. For more than a decade, Gulf Coast employees have manufactured rotary and fixed wing autonomous systems in Moss Point that support the U.S. and its global allies. Recent facility upgrades have allowed for new work on manned aircraft to come to the site, diversifying the portfolio of work and bringing new jobs to the region.
In April 2004, Northrop Grumman broke ground in Moss Point with site construction beginning in 2005. In April 2006, Northrop Grumman contributed to aerospace industry growth in southern Mississippi when the ribbon was cut on the 101,000 square-foot facility. The company celebrated its 10 year anniversary at the site in 2016 and recently extended its lease adjacent to Trent Lott International Airport through 2026.
14 Sep 18. RoKA outlines plans for new ‘Dronebot Warrior’ unit. The Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) aims to formally establish a specialised unit that will operate and develop new concepts of operation for unmanned aerial and unmanned ground vehicles (UAVs and UGVs) by 2019, an army spokesperson toldJane’s at the DX Korea 2018 exhibition.
The new unit – which is known locally as Dronebot Jeontudan (‘Warrior’) – was first announced in December 2017 to enable the service to create the necessary command and human resource infrastructure, such as a new military occupational specialty to recruit suitable candidates within its ranks. The unit is expected to be “battalion-sized” and will begin operations in October 2018, although it will only be fully staffed by 2019. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
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The British Robotics Seed Fund is the first SEIS-qualifying investment fund specialising in UK-based robotics businesses. The focus of the fund is to deliver superior returns to investors by making targeted investments in a mixed basket of the most innovative and disruptive businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotics technologies in defence and other sector applications.
Automation and robotisation are beginning to drive significant productivity improvements in the global economy heralding a new industrial revolution. The fund allows investors to benefit from this exciting opportunity, whilst also delivering the extremely attractive tax reliefs offered by the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). For many private investors, the amount of specialist knowledge required to assess investments in robotics is not practical and hence investing through a fund structure makes good sense.
The fund appoints expert mentors to work with each investee company to further maximise the chance of success for investors. Further details are available on request.
www.britbots.com/fund
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