Droner Nation Blog
FAA Releases BVLOS Waiver Requests for Public Comment
The FAA announced that it’s eyeing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) exemption approvals for four top aviation firms, opening the door to expanded unmanned operations. Now we know exactly what permissions they’re asking for. The FAA has now published the requests of the four companies—Phoenix Air Unmanned, uAvionix, UPS
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Raytheon Gets $147M US Navy Coyote Contract
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $146,664,212 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Future Advanced Strike (FAST) effort. The objective of FAST is to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and precision strike capability. The work to be performed provides for the completion of design modifications currently underway for the Coyote Block
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uAvionix Miniaturized Transponder Selected for Tactical Resupply UAS
uAvionix Corporation defense customer, SURVICE Engineering of Belcamp, MD has been awarded a production contract from the Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Aircraft Systems Program Office. The production efforts will successfully equip U.S. warfighters using Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TRUAS) with innovative multirotor drones that augment logistical operations
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New York Port Authority Delivers Future with Cargo Drone Test
One year after the Port Authority launched a new Girl Scout badge to encourage and educate girls in science, technology, engineering and math careers, the agency marked the partnership by sending a box of Raspberry Rally cookies across the Hudson River. In just 15 minutes, the 10-ounce box of cookies
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Boeing’s Ghost Bat Loyal Wingman Drone Spotted in US
Boeing revealed that its MQ-28 Ghost Bat is hanging out stateside in a first public look at the drone on US soil, months after the Air Force said it wanted to conduct flight test experiments with the loyal wingman platform. Originally made for the Royal Australian Air Force, Breaking Defense
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Kyiv defences repel Russian drone attack: officials
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) May 25, 2023 –
Russian forces carried out overnight drone attacks on Kyiv, officials said Thursday, continuing a month-long campaign of air strikes against the Ukrainian capital.
Military chiefs said Kyiv’s air defences destroyed all of the drones during the three-hour air attack, the twelfth this month.
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Blohm & Voss BV 155 – Germany’s Stratospheric Interceptor
The Blohm & Voss BV 155 was a German high-altitude interceptor aircraft intended to be used by the Luftwaffe against raids by USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Work started on the design as the Messerschmitt Me 155 in 1942, but the project went through a protracted development period and change of
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US Army Selects Final Four for FTUAS Program
The U.S. Army concluded the Base Period of the Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (FTUAS) Program of Record (formerly Increment 2) effort and awarded agreement option 1 to the following four Project Agreement Holders (PAHs): Griffon Aerospace, Incorporated; Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation; Sierra Nevada Corporation; and Textron Systems Corporation. The
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Upgraded Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS Featured in US Army Demo
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is supporting a demonstration that began in March and is featuring two U.S. Army-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). GA-ASI – the developer of the GE-ER platform – was contracted by the Army to integrate and operate an array of
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RigiTech and Spright Partner on Drone Deliveries for Healthcare
RigiTech, a Swiss provider of advanced drone delivery solutions, is proud to announce its partnership with Spright, the U.S.-based unmanned aerial system operator. This strategic alliance and commitment to deploy the Eiger delivery system further signals the reliability of RigiTech’s technology and comprehensive solutions. As part of this collaboration, Spright
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Sniffer Closes $2M Seed Funding for Drone-Based Methane Leak Monitoring
Sniffer Robotics, a leading environmental technology enabled services firm, has announced first and substantial close of a $2 million seed funding round, led by the Michigan Angel Fund. Other investors include Michigan Rise, Naruhisa Nakagawa (founder of Caygan Capital), and Abhishek Desai of Desai Ventures (London). The start-up, founded in
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Airbus Offers SIGINT Add-On for German Heron TP
Airbus Defence and Space has outlined a signals intelligence (SIGINT) capability option for the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron TP unmanned aircraft systems provided to the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) under a service-level agreement. Addressing the Association of Old Crows (AOC) Europe 2023 conference in Bonn on 16 May,
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Netherlands to Arm its Reaper UAVs
The Dutch defence ministry will buy bombs and missiles worth between €100 million and €250 million to arm its MQ-9A Reaper drones, state secretary for defence Christophe van der Maat announced on Tuesday. The decision was taken by the government in The Hague and follows a general trend seen in
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Russians Use FPV-Drones Too
Weapons based on commercial FPV-drones are not exclusive for the Ukrainian forces – Russians develop them, too, as well as ways of enhancing their combat effectiveness and EW protection. Ukrainian Defense Forces, from the regular army to police servicemen, have been actively using small and cheap camera drones as first-person-view
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Korea Research Institute Drone Communications ISO Standards Prevent Risk of Collision
The lack of a single communication standard among drone makers has made it difficult for information to be shared between drones, but a Korean research team has found a solution. The Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that four contributions related to the ‘Unmanned Aircraft Area Network’ were
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