The US Air Force and US Army are actively pursuing the development of the Coyote unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) asset, as well as for delivering kinetic payloads, according to the platform's manufacturer, Raytheon.While Coyote continues to be the backbone of the Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) effort, the army has asked Raytheon to develop a counter unmanned air system (C-UAS) capability for Coyote to defend against small quad-copter UAVs, Raytheon's John Hobday told IHS Jane's."We are embarking on a programme for Coyote to deliver a kinetic effect and essentially destroy a quad-copter," Hobday said. The effort is being pursued as a Quick Reaction Capability (QRC) to deliver a basic, interim capability, he added."The Coyote UAV offers the army a platform with a Technology Readiness Level 9 based on some recent USAF deployment work," Hobday noted."What [the army] has is a good airplane solution. The challenge over the next couple of months will be to develop the intercept capability and the effective kinetic payload," he added.The army wants the C-UAS system before the end of 2017, Hobday said."They are looking at more than just quadcopters, it is Group 1 UAVs [also]," Pete Mangelsdorf, director of UAS for Raytheon, told IHS Jane's.Raytheon is continuing its colaboration with ONR as the research agency works on future phases under the LOCUST programme, and the company continues to engage with the USAF for an off-board sensor for an Air Force Special Operations Command tactical off-board sensing effort.While the US Department of Defense is pursuing the development of autonomous unmanned systems and in particular, UAVs, Hobday noted there is an important distinction to make: Coyote is focused very much on the "man on the loop, not in the loop".
O último concurso aberto pela EMSA, por ser o maior deste tipo alguma vez realizado pelas autoridades europeias (66 milhões de euros), despertou o interesse dos gigantes do sector – Airbus, Saphran, entre outros. Mas os lotes principais acabaram por ser adjudicados a #drones fabricados em Portugal. E a vencedora foi a empresa Tekever.""The last tender opened by EMSA, the biggest of its kind ever created by the European authorities (66 million euros), attracted the interest of the sector giants - Airbus, Saphran, etc. But the main contracts were awarded to drones developed in Portugal. The winner was Tekever."
Lockheed Martin is undertaking a range of enhancements to its Fury unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and anticipates an order for the platform this summer.Brendan Rhatigan, unmanned systems site director at the company's San Luis Obispo facility, told Jane's that the development is focusing on improvements to the aircraft's engine. Fury is currently fitted with a two-stroke diesel engine."We are in the middle of doing some reliability updates and tweaking the performance of the engine to go after the 15-hour endurance goal, and we'll test it this summer and see where we end up, but that is what we're shooting for," Rhatigan said.Rhatigan said that during tests the aircraft has been flown for more than 12 hours and could have operated for longer. "We landed with some fuel in the tank, so we estimate that we are probably in the mid-13-hour range if we had gone all the way to the bingo fuel level."The reliability upgrades we have made to the two-stroke engine are under test right now. We're doing accelerated life testing to characterise the performance and we will put the [improved] engine on a vehicle for flight testing in the July timeframe," Rhatigan said.The engine is a commercial-off-the-shelf unit that is heavily modified for its application on Fury.In late 2016 tests were held at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in conjunction with the US Army. These saw the aircraft fly an operationally representative flight profile that involved transit to an area of operations, loiter on station, and return to a capture point.The flight tests also saw the aircraft configured with its maximum load. Rhatigan explained that Fury has a gross weight of 435 lb (197 kg), with the vehicle itself weighing around 235 lb without payload and fuel systems, "You have 200 lb of payload and fuel to play with."
AR5 LIFE RAY – The European Maritime PatrollerThe RAPSODY Project, led by TEKEVER, will test the use of unmanned aerial systems in a maritime context through real-conditions demonstration of two scenarios: search and rescue missions; and pollution and oil spill monitoring. The systems will operate over the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. This is the first time unmanned aerial systems will be introduced into maritime surveillance missions in Europe.Technical dataWingspan 430 cmLength 300 cmMTOW 150 kgCruise Speed 140 km/hEndurance 8 to 12 hoursAvailable payload capacity(in addition to minimum sensor and communications packages) up to 50 KgAutonomous surveillance of large maritime and land areas, with onboard multi-sensor pattern detectionCombined use of LoS and BLoS datalinks to maximize performance and minimize operational costsMulti-mission support, including border protection, fire surveillance and infrastructure monitoringmission maritimeOptimised onboard and ground algorithms for oil spill detectionMulti-sensor fusion and specialised support to Search and Rescue operationsPrepared for anti-piracy and traffic control missionsSupport to fisheries inspection using high precision sensors
European Maritime Agency Demo for Portuguese UAVTekever is proceeding with a demonstration of a maritime surveillance system using UAVs for the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Portuguese technology company was selected for the two-year Rapsody project by the two agencies last December. In what it claims to be a first, Tekever will demonstrate the value of using UAVs in search-and-rescue missions, and in monitoring pollution and oil spills from ships.Tekever is using its AR5 Evolution for the demo, one of a family of small-to-medium UAVs that it has developed. The AR5 is a conventional takeoff and landing autonomous UAV with a wingspan of 4.3 meters, a payload of 50 kg, and an endurance of 8 to 12 hours. It will carry various sensors, including HD video, SAR, Lidar and AIS, the maritime equivalent of IFF. Satcom will be provided by ViaSat. The sensors will be integrated by Tekever’s subsidiary in the UK, and the demonstration will be managed by another UK company, Bond Air Services.Tekever also has subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Brazil, where it bought into Santos Labs, a local maker of UAVs. The two companies have since jointly developed the AR2 Carcara, a small UAV for maritime and amphibious operations that has a waterproof airframe. Tekever’s hand-launched UAV is designated the AR4 LightRay, and has been in service with the Portuguese Army for the past three years.
ekever has introduced the AR3 Net Ray unmanned air vehicle, which is currently undergoing testing with a number of Portuguese government agencies.Since October the surveillance UAV has been trialled with the Portuguese National Republican Guard, that has used it to monitor a park in north Portugal to survey for illegal poaching and fires.“We have a partnership with the national guard to trial it for a long period to see if it works as a system,” Ricardo Mendes, chief operating officer at Tekever, tells Flight Daily News, and adds that this is expected to continue over the coming months until fire season in Portugal is over.The Portuguese navy is also testing the Net Ray – which is able to operate from vessels – and it has been operated by the Navy in Africa under NATO operations.The navy testing also extends to the Frontex programme, an EU programme that aims to control and monitor illegal immigration by sea, and the subsequent incidents that happen as a result of this when boats capsize.The combustion engine-powered Net Ray has a 10h endurance and weighs 14kg including a 4-5kg gimballed electro-optical payload, although this can be traded for extra fuel.It is catapult-launched on a free standing launcher, but this can be integrated onto a ship for at sea operations, and Mendes says the company is exploring integrating the command and control into ship-based systems.It is net-recovered at present, but Tekever is also looking at other recovery options.http://defence-blog.com/news/tekever-launches-net-ray-uav.html
MissionsISTAR MissionsEnvironmental Surveillancemission istarIntelligenceSurveillanceTarget Acquisitionmission environmentFire detection and preventionWildlife protectionAnti-poaching missionsAnti-terrorist SurveillanceInfrastructure Monitoringmission terrorContinuous surveillance of sensitive areas, with automatic pattern recognition for target detectionLong endurance target monitoring using multiple systemsWide array of payload options to support different operational environmentsmission infrastructureLong range monitoring of large infrastructures, like pipelines or aerial electricity networksReal-time threat detection, both on the infrastructure and its vicinitySupport to problem and vulnerability identification using multiple types of sensorshttp://airray.tekever.com/ar4-evo/
AR1 BLUE RAY main capabilitiesFixed wing mini UAS, designed for operation by Security Forces.Validated and proven (and subsequently acquired) in partnership with Portuguese Police.Real-time Precision Imagery on Demand (High-resolution Image and Video)Powerful On-board Intelligent Detection, Localisation and Tracking CapabilitiesCommunication RelayOperational in Adverse WeatherVery Fast Assembly and DeploymentCollapsible, Man-Portable & Hand-LaunchedThe EO and IR sensors benefit from the 2-axis stabilised gimbal payload system, which ensures a broad coverage of 110º tilt and 220º pan for daytime and night operations.Commercially launched at Le Bourget 2013http://airray.tekever.com/ar1/
The AR2 CARCARÁ is a hand launched mini-UAS designed to support search and rescue, surveillance and patrolling operations in operations in maritime and amphibious environments that is currently in operation by multiple forces.The UAV was developed by the renowned Brazilian UAS manufacturer Santos Lab and is now deeply integrated in the TEKEVER UAS product line, sharing all onboard, communications and ground systems. With this major system overhaul, the CARCARÁ is now fully interoperable with all other TEKEVER UAS, and provides a new range of operational capabilities.The AR2 CARCARÁ delivers an all day operational capability, by offering multiple EO/IR sensor options on two and three axis stabilized gimbals. With an endurance of up to 2h30m and a cruising speed of 40 km/h, the CARCARÁ can be hand or catapult launched. Recovery is made with deep stall landing, on land or water environments, making the CARCARÁ uniquely prepared for maritime and amphibious operations.Santos LabTechnical DataWingspan 220 cmLength 100 cmMTOW 4 kgPayload 1 kgCruising Speed 40 km/hRange 20 kmEndurance Up to 2.5 hrsLaunch Hand Launch or CatapultRetrieval Parachute, Net, or Belly Landinghttp://airray.tekever.com/ar2/
Australia has retired from service the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron 1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that it has fielded since 2010.The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) announced on 9 August that the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV flew its final mission on 23 June, and that 5 Flight is to be officially disbanded at the end of the year.The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) originally leased four Herons from Canadian firm MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) for operations in Afghanistan, under the auspices of Operation 'Slipper' (three airframes served in-country, with the fourth being retained in Australia for training).From January 2010 to November 2014, 5 Flight – operating as Task Unit 633.2.7 – provided intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance electronic warfare (ISREW) support to Australian forces and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) partners in southern Afghanistan. "The aircraft has played a pivotal role in the air force's ability to deliver air-land integration effects in support of our national security interests, including in Afghanistan, where it completed more than 27,000 mission hours," the RAAF said.Since the Afghan deployment, two Herons have continued to be utilised from RAAF Woomera, participating in military exercises and instructor courses.
SERVICE TEST IN FIELD OF TDR1 - WWII , Torpedo Drone 30770This rare film shows the TDR-1 Torpedo Drone being tested in the South Pacific during WWII. The Interstate TDR-1 Torpedo Drone was the very first television-...
MIDLAND BEACH, Staten Island (WABC) -- An Army Black Hawk helicopter was struck by a drone at approximately 500 feet over a residential neighborhood on Staten Island.The helicopter, based out of Fort Bragg, N.C., was in New York City for the United Nations patrol.A piece of the drone bounced off the rotor and became lodged in the aircraft.PHOTOS: Drone hits military chopper in NYC