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22 Dec 22. Polish Armed Forces Receive Gladius Strike-Recon UAV System.
The Armament Agency of the Polish MoD announced that deliveries of the first elements, of the unmanned search and strike system named Gladius, have been completed. The system would be operated by the 18th Artillery Regiment based in Nowa Dęba.
The Armament Agency announced that the artillerymen from the “Iron Division” have taken delivery of two UAV launchers, and two Gladius training UAVs. This would make it possible to begin operator training for those systems before any further deliveries happen. The agreement value in total has been defined as PLN 2 bn., while the deliveries of further elements of the battery-level Gladius modules are expected to happen in the second half of the upcoming year.
The release issued by the Armament Agency reads that the aforesaid deliveries shall be viewed as a result of the agreement on delivery of the unmanned Gladius search and strike systems, signed on 6th May 2022, by and between the Treasury (Armament Agency), and WB Electronics S.A. The agreement covers the delivery of 4 Gladius battery-level unmanned search and strike systems, and this also includes training and a logistics support package. The logistics package includes the delivery of maintenance kits and maintenance services for the UAVs. The training package, meanwhile, apart from a training programme for the operators, also includes training UAVs and Gladius UAV simulators.
Gladius battery search and strike systems modules would be destined for conducting precise strikes against targets at a range of 100 kilometres and to collect aerial IMINT with the use of reconnaissance UAVs of the FT-5 family, equipped with optronic sensors allowing them to record imagery in daylight and with the use of IR spectrum.
Gladius UCAVs integrated with the Topaz fire control system used by the Polish Armed Forces would be acting as the effectors. The battery module would include launchers, command vehicles, ammunition/technical support carriers, and a stock of Gladius UCAVs. (Source: UAS VISION/Defence 24 com)
20 Dec 22. AERTEC’s TARSIS Excels in Spanish Army Manoeuvres.
AERTEC’s TARSIS unmanned aerial systems just took part in the GUILOCHE 22 exercise campaign at the Spanish Army’s San Gregorio Training Centre as an aerial observation platform.
During these manoeuvres, the TARSIS UAS were used to provide support to meet the campaign’s objectives: identify objectives, target acquisition and shot correction support, providing highly accurate coordinates and transferring all this information to the Command Post via the IRIS/TALOS system, the Artillery Command and Control system into which TARSIS is fully integrated.
The TARSIS system carried out missions lasting over 4.5 hours flying at heights of up to 10,000 feet, covering all the assigned objectives and completing all the flight periods, thus demonstrating its operational maturity and reliability. By participating in this type of campaign, the TARSIS demonstrate their ability to operate in far afield scenarios, providing accurate information in virtually real time, and showcase their advanced capabilities for the defence sector in this type of environment.
The TARSIS has a range of up to 140 km and can determine the coordinates of a target to within 5 m at a distance of more than 3 km. It is also one of the few class-I RPAS.
The use of RPAS as an observation and surveillance platform will be increasingly necessary to avoid risk to people. To do this, these unmanned systems must have a range that allows them to be deployed from positions far away from both their own command posts and the target area. And despite operating at long distances, they must have payloads that can identify objectives from a long distance and at high altitude and determine their coordinates with sufficient accuracy.
The TARSIS is integrated into the Ministry of Defence’s RAPAZ Programme, and has already taken part in several flight campaigns to certify its technological capabilities. Over the course of 2022, it was also used at the Air and Space Force’s UAV School, as well as in various units and commands during NATO’s Rapid Deployment Capacity LIVEX exercises, such as the SOFEX 2022 exercise, led by the Joint Special Operations Command.
About AERTEC
AERTEC is an international firm specialising in aerospace technology, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2022 and which operates in the aerospace, defence and airport industries.
It designs on-board systems for aircraft, unmanned aerial platforms, and guidance solutions for both civil and military environments. It produces light tactical UASs with their own design and technology, such as the TARSIS 75 and TARSIS 25, for observation and surveillance applications, and to provide support in military operations. It also designs, manufactures and deploys systems to digitise work environments and automate functional tests, as part of the global, smart factory concept.
It is a preferred provider (Tier 1) of engineering services for AIRBUS in all its divisions: Commercial, Helicopters, Defence and Space, in the different centres that AIRBUS owns worldwide. It has taken part in major global aeronautical projects, such as the A400M, A330MRTT, A350XWB, A320, Beluga and C295 programmes.
It is the leading aviation engineering firm in airports, taking part in studies on investments, planning and design, providing consultancy services for airport operations, and improving processes in the terminal area and airfield. Its products are in use in over 160 airports in 40+ countries on every continent.
With a staff of more than 600 professionals, it has registered companies in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Colombia, Peru, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. (Source: UAS VISION)
20 Dec 22. Romania to buy Watchkeeper X surveillance systems from Elbit Systems. Romania signed a deal on Tuesday to acquire seven Watchkeeper X unmanned aircraft systems from Israeli defence electronics firm Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA) for roughly 1.89bn lei ($408.77m), the defence ministry said.
Under the five-year deal, Elbit Systems will transfer some of the systems’ production, testing and maintenance to Romanian defence firms, part of wider government plans to overhaul its state defence industry.
The Watchkeeper X systems are designed for intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
Romania, a NATO member since 2004, will raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product in 2023 from 2% at present, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The country, which shares a 650-km (400 mile) border with Ukraine, is host to a U.S. ballistic missile defense system and, as of this year, has a permanent alliance battlegroup stationed on its territory.
In September, the ministry said Romania plans to buy three unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) systems from Turkish defence firm Baykar along with logistics support for an estimated $300 m before tax as part of the country’s NATO targets and its military endowment plans. ($1 = 4.6236 lei) (Source: Reuters)
20 Dec 22. EHang Completes Maiden Flight by Spanish National Police.
EHang Holdings Limited announced that its EH216 AAV has completed its maiden flight by the Spanish National Police (“SNP”) at the National Academy of Police in Ávila, Spain, to initiate its trial operations by SNP in Spain. The public maiden flight ceremony was attended and witnessed by distinguished guests and officials from the Spanish State for Security, SNP, the Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency (“AESA”), members of academia institutions, as well as the media.
By leveraging and joining forces with EHang since October 2021, SNP plans to utilize EH216 AAV for potential use in emergency and public safety missions, such as accessing contaminated areas with nuclear, radiological, bacteriological or chemical risks, landing in confined areas, aerial logistics, and other police services that may require agile and efficient aerial mobility.
The ceremony was presided by Rafael Pérez, the Secretary of the Spanish State for Security.
“The SNP is the first security institution in the European Union to operate an AAV. Unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”) constitute an alternative technological asset for multiple purposes, such as deployment in dangerous areas following a natural disaster or an accident, without endangering human lives. The lower operating costs of UAS and their constant new applications show great advantages over traditional aerial means,” Pérez said.
Pedro Prieto, the Director of Aerial Means of Spanish National Police, noted,
“The capability to operate the EH216 AAV from a remote command and control station, which may be hundreds of kilometers away, reflects the National Police’s commitment to fulfill its digital transformation objectives.”
Victoria Jing Xiang, Chief Operating Officer of EHang Europe and Latin America, commented,
“EHang is proud to partner with a law enforcement agency and support SNP with our AAV technologies to fulfill emergency response and public safety missions. SNP’s entry into trial operation of EH216 AAV lays a foundation for the deployment of Urban Air Mobility in Europe and sets an excellent example of commitment to public safety through advancing technology.” (Source: UAS VISION)
19 Dec 22. H3 Dynamics Adds Hydrogen-Electric Propulsion to Unmanned Airships Built in France by HyLight. H3 Dynamics and HyLight have joined forces to bring new long range, sustainable and quiet unmanned airships to a range of commercial applications.
Traditionally, airships use combustion engines for their propulsion power. With new hydrogen propulsion system developments at H3 Dynamics, HyLight’s new breed of airships will now offer long-range zero emission flight and open a whole new category in air mobility. The two companies share a common goal, to decarbonize the aerial industry.
HyLight and H3 Dynamics started working together several months ago in France, and HyLight have now achieved a first successful hydrogen-electric flight test campaign in Milan, Italy. HyLight is an up and coming french start-up and one of the very few companies in the world that was able to demonstrate hydrogen as a viable power supply for small unmanned airships in real conditions. This was made possible with H3 Dynamics’ aerospace-grade hydrogen fuel cells – the smallest and lightest in the world – have pioneered hydrogen flight research from as early 2006.
HyLight’s unmanned airships move slowly but don’t need to consume any power to stay aloft. They can operate for days at a time with heavier payloads compared to conventional drones, to conduct long range inspection of critical energy assets like power-lines & pipelines or scan industrial infrastructure over long distances. Airships could also hover around specific areas to provide critical connectivity for large scale industrial sites – or provide vital communications after a natural disaster.
Based in Toulouse, H3 Dynamics is set on decarbonizing air mobility with clean hydrogen-electric propulsion, starting with enabling smaller unmanned systems – whether fixed wing, multi-rotor or VTOL platforms. Its ultra-light power technology is bringing new long electric flight durations to the global unmanned aviation market, which is set to reach $38bn by 2027.
Earlier this year H3 Dynamics flew the world’s first distributed hydrogen-electric nacelles on a small unmanned platform, proving the potential for larger size systems in bigger aircraft. H3 Dynamics has since become part of the “Toulouse Pioneers” group linked to the Aerospace History Museum “L’Envol des Pionniers”. The company plans to scale its solutions to larger unmanned and manned aviation platforms over the coming years.
HyLight will leverage H3 Dynamics’ international presence covering Europe, North and South America as well as Asia and Australia to bring “made in France” hydrogen-electric airships to the global market.
About HyLight
HyLight wants to decarbonize the aerial data industry by providing long-range aerial data collection and analysis services using its unmanned airship systems for the inspection of power lines, pipelines, and railways. Its airship come with hydrogen electric propulsion making them sustainable, silent, efficient, and long-range to cover large areas or distances.
The company was started in France and has recently demonstrated the first flight of its hydrogen-electric platform. HyLight was selected to participate in the 1st Batch of the acceleration program of Berkeley SkyDeck Europe, Milano; the company is also a member of the Hub Drone Systematic and U-LTA and has been financially supported by La Région Grand Est in France.
About H3 Dynamics
H3 Dynamics is based in Toulouse, Austin and Singapore – and is on a mission to decarbonize aviation with a unique technology solution around distributed hydrogen-electric propulsion, as well as ground refueling solutions. The company’s initial commercial focus is on the scale up of autonomous digital services that link to networks of charging stations for off-the-shelf battery-drones, making way for BVLOS hydrogen UAS capability.
H3 Dynamics is a member of the Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation under the European Commission, Sustainable Aero Lab, the Lufthansa Cleantech Hub, the Paris Advanced Air Mobility Alliance, and Aerospace Valley in Toulouse. (Source: UAS VISION)
16 Dec 22. Latest Award Moves Aurora’s CRANE X-Plane Closer to Flight.
The DARPA program award funds detailed engineering design for a full-scale X-plane to demonstrate the benefits of active flow control. The award also includes an executable option to build and fly the aircraft.
Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, was recently awarded phases 2 and 3 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program. This latest award funds phase 2, the detailed engineering design work necessary to create a full-scale version of Aurora’s X-plane candidate for CRANE. The award also includes an executable option to build and fly the aircraft in phase 3.
Aurora’s X-plane candidate uses active flow control (AFC) for multiple effects, including flight control at tactical speeds and performance enhancement across the flight envelope. The experimental, purpose-designed aircraft is designed around an AFC system that supplies pressurized air to AFC effectors embedded in all flying surfaces. The vehicle configuration provides AFC testing for multiple wing sweeps using nozzle arrays located at the upper surface of each wing. Aurora continues to collaborate closely with its parent company, Boeing, on the design of the aircraft and its AFC system.
The aircraft is configured to be a modular testbed featuring replaceable outboard wings and swappable AFC effectors. The modular design allows for testing of not only Aurora’s AFC effectors but also AFC effectors of various other designs. By expanding testing capabilities beyond Aurora-designed components, the program further advances its goal to provide the confidence needed for future aircraft requirements, both military and commercial, to include AFC-enabled capabilities.
“Given all that we have learned about AFC and its application to tactical aircraft in prior phases of CRANE, the next step is to prove out these learnings in flight,” said Graham Drozeski, vice president of government programs at Aurora. “The CRANE X-plane is designed specifically to explore the effectiveness of AFC technologies at mission relevant scale and Mach numbers.”
Previously, Aurora completed phases 0 and 1 of DARPA’s CRANE program. During phase 0, the team developed tools and technologies for incorporating AFC in the early stages of aircraft design and developed two X-plane concept designs. In phase 1, Aurora completed preliminary design of the selected X-plane and conducted wind tunnel testing. The wind tunnel tests collected data that provided a rigorous foundation for developing flight control laws using AFC as a primary control effector.
Moving into phase 2 of the program, Aurora has begun the detailed engineering design of its full-scale, 30 ft wingspan, 7000 lbs gross weight, uncrewed X-plane. In phase 3, Aurora would build the X-plane at its facilities in Virginia, West Virginia, and Mississippi. The vehicle would be used for AFC validation and demonstration at relevant scale and flight conditions, including flight speeds up to Mach 0.7. Flight testing is targeted for 2025. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
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www.britbots.com/fund
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