UTM

Sagetech Avionics Receives DoD AIMS Certification for Mode 5 Micro IFF Transponder for Drones

UAS weekly – 08.02.2021 – Sagetech Avionics, an aerospace technology company providing industry-leading situational awareness solutions for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), announced today that on February 5th the DoD AIMS Program Office issued the world’s first 17-1000 Mark XIIB certification to Sagetech for its MX12B micro Mode 5 Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder. This newly certified transponder enables NATO and allied militaries to deploy Mode 5 IFF capability on small drones, protecting the warfighter against rapidly increasing unmanned threats from enemy forces. Certified Mode 5 IFF Transponders from a Proven Military Supplier. “Around the world, enemy military drones are proliferating, and it is vital to distinguish between friendly or hostile drones. Mode 5 IFF provides the solution to this issue, but until now, manned aircraft transponders were too large for use on anything but the largest UAS,” explained Tom Furey, CEO of Sagetech Avionics. “The MX12B combines Mode 5 IFF functionality with ADS-B situational awareness in a tiny SWaP unit that is fast and easy to integrate… lire l’article

Contrôle des émissions

Sky-Futures Partners With SeekOps to Support Global Expansion of Drone-based Fugitive Emissions Detection Service

Business Wire – 08.02.2021 – AUSTIN, Texas – Sky-Futures, an ICR company, one of the world’s leading drone inspection and survey providers, has signed a global service delivery partnership with SeekOps Inc to provide methane detection, localisation, and quantification services to customers around the world. With a global footprint in 9 countries and operations in over 33 countries to date, Sky-Futures will deliver a SeekOps-certified service to customers both onshore and offshore. The partnership will enable SeekOps to rapidly scale the delivery of its methane emissions detection services globally to customers across multiple sectors, including the oil and gas and biogas industries… lire l’article

Surveillance de zone ou de site

IAI unveils WASP, a Groundbreaking Aerial Surveillance System for Persistent Wide-Area Monitoring

UAS weekly – 08.02.2021 – Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) unveils WASP, a new generation surveillance system that provides a high-resolution situational awareness picture of moving targets day and night in a wide-area of interest. Utilizing state of the art EO and IR sensors, AI algorithms and adaptive rule engines, the system captures large areas in high revisit rate, to track, identify and alert the system operator of moving targets that correlate with mission requirements and objectives. Compact, light-weight and requiring low power consumption, WASP complies with a wide range of aerial platforms such as tactical UAVs, drones, fixed and rotary wing aircraft or tethered surveillance balloons. WASP’s coverage area and resolution changes according to its platform and operating altitude. Mounted on a tactical UAV such as the BirdEye 650D, WASP covers 2 square kilometers in optimal resolution to detect all types of moving targets. When mounted on a male UAV such as the Heron 1, the coverage area expands over 15 square kilometers to detect mostly vehicle size objects and the like… lire l’article

R & D

Test of civil drone flights in GPS denied environment successfully conducted

sUAS News – 12.02.2021 – A first worldwide test of civil drone flights in GPS denied environments was successfully conducted in Israel in a special drone test zone in Yeruham, where safe navigation solutions for drone flight Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) were presented.  The test is part of NAAMA, the Israeli drone delivery pilot program operated by Israel’s Ministry of Transport (MOT), Ayalon Highways, the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) and Israel Innovation Authority, for testing and demonstrating drone technologies in managed airspace (UTM). The current test is examining how vision-based navigation technologies can help drone operators address the increasing threat of GPS signal disruption… lire l’article

Destructioné

Drones : la DARPA lance le programme LongShot

Air & Cosmos – 10.02.2021 – WASHINGTON – La DARPA veut créer un drone à lancement aérien qui transporte ses propres armes plus petites, un concept qui rappelle une poupée gigogne russe mortelle remplie de missiles. En cas de succès, le nouvel UAV – appelé LongShot – pourrait permettre aux avions habités de grande valeur comme les chasseurs et les bombardiers de se tenir à distance pendant que le drone avance et frappe plusieurs cibles à l’aide de ses propres armes lancées par voie aérienne. La DARPA a annoncé le 8 février qu’elle avait attribué des contrats à General Atomics, Lockheed Martin et Northrop Grumman pour la première phase du programme, au cours de laquelle les entreprises créeront des conceptions préliminaires… lire l’article

ISR

Drones : commande des 11 premiers SMDM pour les frégates et patrouilleurs français

Mer et Marine – 12.02.2021 – Plus que prévu. Ce sont finalement 11 systèmes de mini-drones pour la marine (SMDM) qui ont été commandés à la société française Survey Copter. Un contrat de 19.7 millions d’euros pour cette filiale d’Airbus basée à Pierrelatte (Drôme) et employant une cinquantaine de personnes. Initialement, cette commande initiale pour le programme SMDM devait compter moitié moins de systèmes mais il a été revu à la hausse par le ministère des Armées dans le cadre du plan de soutien à l’industrie aéronautique lancé l’été dernier. A terme, la Marine nationale devrait disposer d’environ 25 systèmes pour équiper les frégates des types La Fayette et Floréal, les patrouilleurs de haute mer (PHM, ex-avisos) du type A69 et les nouveaux patrouilleurs d’outre-mer (POM). Il permettra d’étendre leurs capacités de reconnaissance et de surveillance. Les 11 premiers systèmes doivent être livrés à partir de cette année et jusqu’en 2023. Les autres devraient suivre d’ici 2025. Le modèle choisi est le DVF 2000 de Survey Copter, également connu sous le nom d’Aliaca. Un petit drone aérien à voilure fixe de 2.2 mètre de long, 3.6 mètres d’envergure et une masse maximale de 16 kilos au décollage, dont un peu plus d’ 1 kg de charge utile… lire l’article

Skydio poised to supply first tranche of short-range recon drones to US Army

Defense News – 10.02.2021 – WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has chosen California-based drone manufacturer Skydio to continue in a final prototyping phase, which should lead to the company supplying the service’s first tranche of short-range reconnaissance unmanned aircraft systems. The Short-Range Reconnaissance system is a platoon-level, small quadcopter unmanned aircraft that will provide enhanced situational awareness, a spin-off from the Army’s earlier efforts to develop a rucksack-portable UAS. The Skydio X2D SSR system was one of six SRR prototypes the Army was evaluating against its program requirements. In a competitive downselect, the service chose two systems to enter a limited user test conducted by the Army Test and Evaluation Command… lire l’article

Kazakhstan drone « Shagala » is undergoing field trials

Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan – 05.02.2021 – Test flights of the new ‘Shagala’ reconnaissance unmanned aircraft system have taken place . The UAV was developed by military scientists of the National Defense University named after the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy (NDU). The practice of using UAVs in modern military conflicts has proven the need to develop its own analogue. The NUO analyzed the use of not only reconnaissance drones, but also strike drones as an effective weapon against enemy armored vehicles and manpower. The prototype of the Shagala reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped with a hardware and software communication channel, its own cryptographic protocol and secure communication channels… lire l’article

Transport

Archer, A Leading Urban Air Mobility Company, To List On NYSE Through Merger With Atlas Crest Investment Corp

Globe News Wire – 10.02.2021 – Archer, a leading Urban Air Mobility (“UAM”) company and developer of all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft, and Atlas Crest Investment Corp. (NYSE: ACIC), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in Archer becoming a publicly listed company. It is anticipated that the post-closing company, Archer, will be listed on the NYSE with ticker symbol “ACHR.” Based in Palo Alto and led by co-founders and co-CEOs Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein, Archer’s mission is to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility and become the leader in the new era of UAM, a $1 trillion plus market, according to leading industry research… lire l’article

Surveillance maritime

New Drone Surveillance System to be Deployed on Canadian Coast Guard Vessels in Trials Funded by DRDC

sUAS News – 10.02.2021 – Ottawa, CA: Kongsberg Geospatial announced today that it has been selected by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) to conduct trials of a new long-endurance UAV surveillance system for the Canadian Coast Guard. The MartinUAV V-BAT aircraft was selected to provide the unique ability to combine take off and landing from the small confines aboard ship with the long endurance of a fixed-wing aircraft while carrying multiple sensors. Combining a unique Vertical Take-off aircraft and new sensor data PED solution allows for rapid collection and analysis of sensor data… lire l’article

Drones de combat

INDIAN ARMY LEASES 4 HERON UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES FROM ISRAEL AS PART OF ITS EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT

Indian Defense News – 11.02.2021 – The Indian Army has leased four Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from Israel as part of its emergency procurement program. The Heron, with the Indian Army for some years, can be particularly effective in intelligence gathering as it is a long-endurance UAV and can be in the air for about 50 hours at a time. The lease comes with the defence ministry changing the rules and allowing for the leasing of certain weapon systems. Similarly, the Navy has leased Predator drones from the United States.  The Herons apart, the Army has used its emergency powers to ensure that it has enough ammunition and spares for a two-week war, even if it is on two-fronts, high-level sources said. The emergency powers, given by the government in the wake of the situation in Ladakh, has allowed the army to get necessary spares and ammunition and also, strengthen its anti-tank weaponry and buy much needed anti-aircraft systems… lire l’article 

Divers

Flyadeal Airbus A320 Left With Large Hole After Suspected Drone Strike

Simple Flying – 10.02.2021 – A suspected drone attack on Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia has left an Airbus A320 with a gaping hole in its side. The Airbus was on lease to young Saudi low-cost airline flyadeal, and was one of only 12 aircraft in its fleet. As such, the ambitious airline will sorely miss its capacity while, and if, it is being repaired. An aircraft belonging to Middle East airline flyadeal has been seriously damaged in a drone attack on a Saudi Arabian airport. Abha regional airport, which sits around 75 miles from the border with Yemen, was struck by a drone earlier today, leaving the Airbus A320 engulfed in flames. The fire seems to have been brought under control relatively quickly, with no significant damage to the plane from the blaze. However, images circulating on social media show a large hole in the aircraft’s fuselage… lire l’article