• USAF looks for more discriminating UAVs

    The increased use of UAVs in Pakistan has also increased the number of civilians being killed in attacks on insurgents; one of the main reasons is the fact that the least powerful munition they fire is Hellfire missiles, which are intended to puncture the tough armor of tanks; USAF plans to build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields

  • Russia buys 12 spy drones from Israel

    The August 2008 war against Georgia convinced the Russian military that it needed more battlefield intelligence; after Russian defense companies failed to provide the military with the right gear, Russia turned to Israel

  • Large defense contractors on a buying spree of smaller UAV manufacturers

    UAV expenditures will double within a decade from $4.4 billion annually to $8.7 billion, with more than $62 billion spent over the next ten years

  • UAV operation now a career path in U.S. Air Force

    The USAF has 127 Predator and 31 Reaper UAVs in service, along with some 400 pilots to run them; these operators can put about 36 UAVs into the air at any given time; the USAF wants to be able to do more, so it has instituted a policy which will see 10 percent of recent graduates from pilot schools will spend three years operating UAVs, before going on to flying manned aircraft

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  • Inflatable tower would bring people to the edge of space

    Scientists describe a 15-kilometer inflatable tower made up of 100 modules, each one 150 meters tall and 230 meters in diameter, built from inflatable tubes 2 meters across; when pressurized, the tower would weigh 800,000 tons — twice the weight of the world’s largest supertanker

  • Fuel-cells will extend UAVs' ability to roam the skies

    At present, battery-powered electric UAVs are limited to one to three hours of flight; Massachusetts-based Protonex developed a power systems which allows this flight time to be extended by up to four times

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  • Raytheon to develop smart-map battle network for U.S. Army

    Raytheon signs contract to demonstrate smart-map computers which will allow soldiers to see enemy soldiers and each other on the digital maps even where GPS satellite navigation is unavailable

  • U.S. Air Force uncomfortable with the idea of a pilotless bomber

    Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he is considering making the next-generation long-range bomber a pilotless aircraft; USAF chief begs to differ, saying “We would have to think seriously” about having a nuclear-delivery aircraft without a pilot

  • Court: use of GPS to track criminals requires warrant

    The New York State’s supreme court ruled that the police cannot use GPS to track a criminal suspect without a warrant; majority decision said: “the use of these powerful devices presents a significant and, to our minds, unacceptable risk of abuse”

  • Elbit, GD create UAS Dynamics

    The military UAV market is becoming more lucrative; Elbit, maker of the popular Skylark and Hermes UAV lines, create a joint venture with General Dynamics to sell UAVs based on Elbit’s designs; company intends to compete with General Atomics’ Predator

  • U.S.-Pakistan cooperate in UAV campaign, but it is a qualified cooperation

    The United States offered to give Pakistan a much larger amount of imagery, including real-time video feeds and communications intercepts gleaned by remotely piloted aircraft; information about the UAVs’ operating patterns, blind spots, and takeoff and landing locations is not shared for fear that elements inside the Pakistani intelligence and military would leak it to the insurgents

  • Boeing's takes X-45C out of storage, renames it Phantom Ray

    The proposed 2010 U.S. defense budget is historic at least in one respect: for the first time, the U.S. Air Force will be buying more unmanned flying systems than manned ones; Boeing takes its X-45C unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) out of storage and renames it Phantom Ray; it will be completed and readied for flight by the end of 2010, and will be suitable for missions including ISR, SEAD, electronic attack, hunter/killer, and autonomous aerial refueling

  • Dutch police uses unmanned mini-helicopter to sniff out cannabis

    Police in the noerthwest region of the Netherlands asked their engineers to design an unmanned helicopter to hover over the region and sniff out traces of weed smell in the air samples it collects; new methods does not require a warrant to enter buildings

  • Northrop Grumman acquires KillerBee UAV line from Swift

    The KillerBees are blended wing-body UAVs offered in sizes ranging from 6.5 feet to 33.2 feet in wingspan; NG changes name from KillerBee to Bat

  • DARPA awards Lockheed $399.9 million for blimp

    Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, receives nearly $400 million from the Pentagon to develop a blimp-carrying radar; the radar would be about 6,000 square meters (7,176 square yards) in size