Erik Schechter
- News
VIDEO: Company releases helicopter-ambulance test flight video
Advanced Tactics, a small aerospace company based in El Segundo, California, has released a video of its first test flight of the Black Knight Transformer, an unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle that morphs into an ambulance in order to evacuate wounded troops from an urban battlefield.
AnalysisANALYSIS: Industry takes hope as FAA challenges UAV ruling
To Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials, aerial videographer Raphael “Trappy” Pirker was a scofflaw with a 2.27kg (5lb) Ritewing Zephyr II glider and a mounted GoPro camera.
NewsUS Army opens acquisition for counter-UAS weapon system
Concerned about the emerging threat of unmanned aircraft, the US Army is canvassing American defence contractors for information on systems that can detect, classify and destroy drones of varying sizes.
NewsCalifornia start-up readies first flight of roadable, VTOL vehicle
California-based Advanced Tactics plans to attempt the first flight test in a few weeks of the Black Knight Transformer, an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed for the medical evacuation mission.
NewsNew document offers glimpse of DOD’s unmanned future
A US Department of Defense planning document released last week contains a vignette showing how unmanned systems could be deployed in a future conflict with a fictitious enemy state resembling in some ways Iran.
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SOCOM seeks runway-independent UAV
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is canvassing the aerospace industry for information on expeditionary Group 3 unmanned aerial vehicles that are “runway independent,” according to SOCOM spokesman U.S. Navy Captain Kevin Aandahl.
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Navy, Marines look for small UAV with quadrupled range
The US Navy and Marine Corps are tapping industry for an all-environment small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS) that weighs less than 13.6kg (30lb) but can fly for 8h, carrying both day and night video cameras.
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Prioria hopes to make inroads from US Army UAV deal
Prioria Robotics has begun training the Joint Special Operations Task Force on its small, tube-launched Maveric unmanned air vehicle.
NewsArcturus demos T-20 UAV for Asian country
California-based Arcturus UAV plans to fly its T-20 Tier II aircraft equipped with a multi-sensor payload for an unnamed Asian country this week.
NewsUS military completes OV-10 tests, keeps aircraft for now
The US Special Operations Command will keep two borrowed OV-10G+ Broncos until early next year, when the results of the recently completed Combat Dragon II evaluation are in.
NewsUnmanned aircraft to get cues from unattended ground sensors
Spy “rocks” talking to robot aircraft might be the future of USA-Mexico border surveillance if Lockheed Martin’s newly-updated network of small, easily disguised unattended ground sensors performs as promised.
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US Army sells cancelled LEMV airship to original designer
The US Army confirms it transferred in mid-October a deflated airship previously known as the long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV) to the original designer – Cardington, UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV).