The Guardian reported recently that the Pentagon’s Southern Command are testing stratospheric balloons over the US, to combat drug trafficking and support homeland security. The news has caused concern among US civil liberties advocates angry that American citizens will be being monitored in these tests. However, these balloons are just
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A U.S. MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) crashed on August 7 in the district of Radwaniyah west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. “A Coalition Unmanned Aerial Vehicle made an unscheduled landing in Baghdad Wednesday due to a mechanical problem. The aircraft landed safely and was successfully recovered
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The Russian S-70 Okhotnik-B (Hunter) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, made its first flight on Saturday, August 3rd. 2019. The flight took place at 12.20 Moscow time and lasted for over 20 minutes. The aerial vehicle flown by the operator made several circles around
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Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has begun placing engine orders in anticipation of receiving first series production contracts for its XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned combat air system (UCAS) before the end of 2019. Developed in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under the Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD)
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Russia’s Okhotnik (Hunter) heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, has made the first flight, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Saturday. “Under the test program, a long-duration flight time UCAV Okhotnik has performed its first flight,” says the press release circulated by the
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The U.S. Army issued a contract award to accelerate the rapid prototyping and fielding of its first combat-capable laser weapon system. This prototype will deliver 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers on a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in Fiscal Year 2022, supporting the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) mission. The directed
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The Ministry of Defence’s two flagship drone projects – the ‘Protector’ programme to introduce the Certifiable Predator B drone into service with the Royal Air Force, and the Army’s Watchkeeper surveillance drone – continue to face ‘significant issues’ according to a government spending watchdog. The latest annual report (published in
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U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Ariel Cecil, the Low Altitude Air Defense officer in charge assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166 Reinforced, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, explains the importance of the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System during Theater Amphibious Combat Rehearsal (TACR) 18. Led by Naval Amphibious Force,
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A new project to develop a novel unmanned combat aircraft has been announced by the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept looks to offer additional capability, deployed alongside fighter jets like the F-35 and Typhoon
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Danish prosecutors have charged three men under Denmark’s anti-terror laws on suspicion of buying drones and components with the purpose of delivering them to the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq where they were to be used “in combat actions.” Prosecutor Kristian Kirk says the three men, aged 30,
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Soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division will be the first infantry Army battalion to employ pocket-sized drones at the squad level on their upcoming Afghanistan deployment. Troops with the Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat team were issued Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System this spring and provided training on how to use
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Russia has unveiled a combat surveillance drone intended to resemble a menacing owl spreading its wings. The avian imposter was showcased at the Defense Ministry’s annual military expo in the outskirts of Moscow last week.
Footage from the event published by the ministry’s Zvezda news channel shows the remote-controlled
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In just a few months the NW-44 Heavy Fuel Engine has added over 500 flights to its logbooks, bringing its combat flight total to 1500 flights. Northwest UAV sees the Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution providing warfighters and commercial operators with the best propulsion system in the small UAV category. A
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It’s been a year since we published Drone Wars: The Next Generation, which gave our assessment of who is operating armed drones. This update adds four new States to those with the ability to operate large MALE or medium sized armed drones, as well as an update on significant exports,
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Russia has unveiled a combat surveillance drone intended to resemble a menacing owl spreading its wings. The avian imposter was showcased at the Defense Ministry’s annual military expo in the outskirts of Moscow on Tuesday. Footage from the event published by the ministry’s Zvezda news channel show the remote-controlled
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The X-MADIS is a fully integrated counter UAS system that detects, locates, tracks, identifies and defeats sUAS. With an integrated all-threat tactical air surveillance radar, gyro-stabilized optical sensor (EO and MWIR imagery), C2 interface and Electronic Warfare System, the X-MADIS provides a complete “soft-kill” solution to combat the growing threat
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A U.S. MQ-9 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) was shot down by the Yemeni Air Defense Force, an ally of the Houthis, while it was conducting a sortie over the western province of al-Hudaydah, where a UN-sponsored ceasefire is implemented. The Houthis media wing released a video and several photos
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Drone Wars is today publishing a new report reviewing large military drone crashes over the past decade. Accidents Will Happen details over 250 crashes of large Predator-sized (NATO Class II and III) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across the globe operated by a number of different countries, primarily the United
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The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to launch a competition to teach artificial intelligence (AI) software programmes how to control aircraft and their weapons in dogfights. The research agency sees the competition as the first step in developing software that would automate air-to-air combat. AI-controlled fighter aircraft
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Liteye Systems, Inc, identified by US DoD NORTHCOM as a Subject Matter Expert in Countering UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) threats, was recently invited to attend a collaboration session between Government and Industry to better define emerging threats across North America. NORTHCOM is a Unified Combatant Command of the U.S
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The latest response to our Freedom of Information requests on British air and drone operations in Iraq and Syria show a marked decline in UK air and drone strikes in Syria since December 2018. (See our stats page for full update)
Altogether, British drones and manned aircraft fired
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The US Army’s acquisition chief Bruce Jette has confirmed that the U.S. Army has plans to equipped Stryker combat vehicles with a modern laser weapon systems. Soldiers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, have already been able to take down small unmanned aerial systems with a laser at the 10-kilowatt level. Mobile
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