Members of the House of Representative tabled legislation this month that included a proposal to create a new branch of the US Army dedicated to the rapidly expanding deployment of drones in conflict situations. This week, the country’s top military brass made it very clear they don’t support the idea.
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A little more has been uncovered about the mysterious drone sightings in a highly restricted US military test flight area above the Arizona desert, but the additional details don’t offer any clear idea of who might be illegally piloting the UAVs.
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The highly geeked out unit of the U.S. Department of Defense has issued a $10 million contract to develop its long contemplated Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay system (POWER), which will likely use drones as airborne platforms to conduct electric refueling for other vehicles – or for re-juicing their own batteries.
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Aerial tech startup RapidFlight says it has demonstrated a system that can transform the process – and, above all, speed – with which drones are produced and deployed, with the successful performance of its Mobile Production System for manufacturing UAVs in remote, even austere non-industrial settings.
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Its reputation resplendent in large part due to the critical performance of its tech in service of Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian forces, German drone and robotics company Quantum-Systems has completed an eye-opening €63.6 million ($66.8 million) Series B funding round, pushing its total financing beyond the €100 million ($106 million) threshold.
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In a move that may get Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and other Internal Revenue Service-averse billionaires contemplating a move into the armed forces, legislation has been tabled in the US seeking to extend many remote operators of military drones the same tax-exempt combat compensation that troops in combat battle receive.
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Less than a week after Ukraine officials called on private citizens to put their drones to use in defending cities from invading Russian forces, signs are accumulating that consumer UAVs are increasingly taking to the air – and flowing in from abroad – for operation in the conflict.
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Volansi has announced that Dr. Will Roper has joined the board, with expertise in R&D and emerging tech. Roper was the assistant secretary of the US Air Force and will focus on Volansi’s strategy, operations, and growth in the defense market.
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The US Military is currently testing an Israeli-built drone interception system, initially developed for use in the gaming world. The new system is already being flown along the Gaza border, and US soldiers are being trained to use it.
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DARPA‘s Gremlin program has just completed its second round of testing in late July, cementing them in the future of military combat. The second round of testing focused on risk-reducing flights in preparation for tests later on in the year.
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Greece will be receiving Turkish mine detection drones to be used in search and rescue missions along with detecting mines up to a depth of 50 meters (~164 miles). This marks the first time Greece has bought drones from the private sector in Turkey.
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It’s not quite Star Wars, but laser weapons are real. The US Navy just demonstrated that capability when it downed a drone in tests of a new ship-mounted laser in the Pacific Ocean.
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Just a pound or two of plastic and metal can bring air traffic to a standstill. Such was the case at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma when a small drone wandered into the base’s flight path on Wednesday.
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Military drones collect a lot of data from their cameras and other sensors. Right now, they stream back whatever they can, leaving humans and computers back at the base to sort through. Now the US Air Force wants to equip the drones with the brains to analyze the data in real-time.
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The lines between consumer, enterprise, and now military drones continue to blur. This week, French drone maker Parrot announced that it’s in the final stage of competition to provide short range reconnaissance drones to the US Army. Getting to that stage required a lot of assurances for a government wary of foreign drone makers.
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Talk about an explosive idea. The US Army Research Lab (ARL) has married drones with grenade launchers. The result is a surveillance system that can operate at up to 2000 feet altitude and 1.25 miles away.
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Indonesia is planning to start mass-producing its Black Eagle long-range surveillance and attack drones for military use by 2022. The news comes two years earlier than originally planned by President Joko Widodo. PT Dirgantara Indonesia, a state-owned company will be tasked with manufacturing the drones.
Morocco’s military is said to have received three Heron surveillance drones last week after the French military decommissioned from their surveillance duties over the middle east. The drones were said to have cost around $48 million each when the French purchased them.
At the end of last year, DARPA’s Gremlin program completed the first test flight of its X-61A fixed-wing aerial vehicle, in the skies above Utah. The test was to demonstrate the feasibility of recovering ‘low-cost’ UAVs safely, reliably, and affordably.
Ukrainian company Meridian Corporation has developed a drone to fly alongside Ukrainian soldiers to provide situational awareness, surveillance, and reconnaissance while in the field. The drone took six months to develop and test.
Even though China is trying to make headways into military drone market and touting lower prices to convince potential buyers, Australia just announced that it will buy American drones, namely the Reaper. The 12 to 16 unmanned warships are to be stationed in Papua New Guinea in response to regional security threats, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It is not the first time that we see a drone that has been inspired by nature when it comes to its design. Earlier this year, the French company Parrot introduced the Anafi drone that was inspired by insects. The Skeeter drone, a military surveillance UAS, was based on a dragonfly. Dragonflies are the most successful predators as they catch 95% of the prey that they target.
Manned aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon are fast and agile which make them the perfect candidate for aerial combat. Drones share this same athletic mobility and come in different variations from quadcopters to fixed-wing designs. With this potential, drones could one day fill the skies, taking down manned aircraft and fighting against each other.
