Unmanned Systems report
Defense Update Unmanned Systems Channel - November 2010
- U.S. Teams Grab All Prizes at Magic 2010 – Australian Robotic UGV Competition
- Smaller, More Powerful Snake Robot Demonstrated by Technion Lab
- The German Air Force Deploys an Israeli MultiInt System Fusing Manned, Unmanned ISR Sources
- ATK Offers Miniature Precision Guided Weapon for Unmanned Aerial Systems
- U.S. Army to Demonstrate Full Manned-Unmanned Operations Next Year
- RiotBot – Armed For Close Combat
- Decision Time for Cargo UAVs
- The Marines Want Cargo-UAS Now
- Latrun 2010 – Unmanned Systems on Display
- Extendable Stick Turns Micro Robot into a Pole Cam
- Vulture Solar-Powered UAV Set For Months long Mission by 2014
Photo above: The German Air Force became the first international customer for Rafael’s new ImiLite multi-intelligenceIntelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) processing system. Photo: Rafael (Read More...)
U.S. Teams Grab All Prizes at Magic 2010 – Australian Robotic UGV Competition
With a squad of 14 robots that worked together autonomously in a complicated mapping exercise, a team from the University of Michigan has won the inaugural Multi Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC 2010) in Australia. MAGIC 2010 featured some of the world’s most ground-breaking robotics technologies as the teams deployed a total of 43 robots to navigate a 250,000 square-meter indoor and outdoor course over three-and-a-half hours. (Read More...)
Smaller, More Powerful Snake Robot Demonstrated by Technion Lab
Researchers at the BioRobotics and BioMechanics Labortory (BRML) or Israel Technion are working on an improved, more robust and agile snake robot that will enhance the performance already demonstrated by an earlier BRML ‘robotic snake’ in 2009. Unlike the previous robot, that used a centralized processor to control the individual elements, the new model employs independent links built as common elements, each packing the logic and control processors, inertial sensors, servo actuators, power source, communications and sensors. (Read More...)
The German Air Force Deploys an Israeli MultiInt System Fusing Manned, Unmanned ISR Sources
The German Air Force became the first international customer for Rafael’s new ImiLite multi-intelligenceIntelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) processing system. The Luftwaffe will be using the system to process and fuse real-time video and imagery obtained from Rafael’s Reccelite pods, flown on Tornado recce planes and Infra-red/video provided by the new IAI Heron UAVs recently deployed to Afghanistan. Until the introduction of ImiLite, ISR sensors operated as ‘stovepipes’, each monitored and controlled by its own control system, feeding processed feeds to central ISR facility, a process that typically accumulates significant delays. (Read More...)
U.S. Army to Demonstrate Full Manned-Unmanned Operations Next Year
The U.S. Army is planning to test a combined operation of manned and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), as part of the demonstration of advanced capabilities enabled with current and future systems and technologies. (Read More...)
ATK Offers Miniature Precision Guided Weapon for Unmanned Aerial Systems
The U.S. Navy is expecting proposals from industry for groundbreaking operational support services, employing unmanned helicopters as ‘Cargo-Unmanned Aerial Sy ATK is developing a lightweight precision guided munition, compact and light enough to be carried by the dozens or even hundreds by unmanned aerial aircraft. The new glide weapon is packed into a conformal container launcher carried under the wing of the Shadow, fitted on top of the strut root. Upon release the weapon’s fins are extracted and three airfoils pop into place, as the weapon glides on its path to the ground. (Read More...)
RiotBot – Armed For Close Combat
The Spanish company TechnoRobot has introduced here the RiotBot – a new class of unmanned platform designed for intervention in riots, prison disturbances, or other civil disorders, where neutralization of specific elements is required by law enforcement agents, avoiding direct contact with the crowd. By operating with effective non lethal means to suppress, or deactivate a target without the presence of personnel, RiotBot can eliminate potential threats while minimizing escalation typically caused by police intervention. (Read More...)
Decision Time for Cargo UAVs
The U.S. Navy is expecting proposals from industry for groundbreaking operational support services, employing unmanned helicopters as ‘Cargo-Unmanned Aerial Systems – C-UAS) in Afghanistan. Two companies are expected to compete for this service – Lockheed Martin-Kaman and Boeing. Boeing positions it’s A160T Hummingbird rotary wing UAV as an unmanned cargo lifting platform. (Read More...)
The Marines Want Cargo-UAS Now
While DARPA’s dream of TX Transformers hopping supplies and personnel through the sky, avoiding roadside IEDs and ambushes, the Marines in Afghanistan need a solution now. In August the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade (II MEB) published the requirements for C-UAS, following the Joint Urgent Operational Need (JUON) issue by the Marine Corps earlier, following the evaluation of several systems in early 2010. Due to the urgency of the mission the Marines are seeking a mature, autonomous, aerial cargo transport platform. (Read More...)
Latrun 2010 – Unmanned Systems on Display
This photographic report is the third part of our coverage of the Latrun 2010 land warfare conference and exhibitions. This feature highlights some of the unmanned systems at the show, beginning with the Guardium, which recently entered operational service with the IDF, as part of the border security measures employed along one of the country’s hot border lines. Another new system on display was the Maxi Viper, first covered by Defense Update in August. (Read More...)
Extendable Stick Turns Micro Robot into a Pole Cam
ReconRobotics has introduced a new, versatile add-on to the Recon Scout Micro Robot enabling the use of the robot either as a remotely controlled sensor or static, elevated ‘Pole Cam’. The novel device enables military scouts to mount the Micro Robot on the 20 inch (0.52 m) long ‘Recon Scout Search Stick’, a quipped with actuated jaws that grasp the 1.2 pound Recon Scout micro robot. (Read More...)
Vulture Solar-Powered UAV Set For Months long Mission by 2014
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected a concept developed by the Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) for the second phase of the Vulture long-endurance unmanned aerial system (UAS) program. The Solar eagle was selected over the Odysseus, a rival proposal submitted by Lockheed Martin and Aurora Flight Science’s. The agency awarded Boeing an $89 million contract for the development and flight demonstration of the Vulture air vehicle, a 400 ft. (122 m) wing span, quad-tail flying wing, designed for operation at very high-altitude of 90,000 – 60,000 ft, and operate continuously, unreplenished, for a period of five years. (Read More...)