UAVs / Satellites / Blimps

U.S. military faces UAV shortage
UAVs perform more and more intelligence and operation missions for the U.S. military — most recently over the northwest territory of Pakistan; one result of the growing demand for the drones is a drone bottleneck: General Atomics cannot keep up with demand
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Unmanned vehicles pilot shortage top priority for USAF
It has taken some time, but Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has succeeded in pushing the U.S. Air Force toward an accelerated adoption of unmanned air systems; now the USAF needs hundreds of ground controllers to control them
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U.S. military to be offered flying hover bike
An innovative Virginia company says its flying — or hovering — bike may be suitable for military missions; the machine offers vertical takeoff, range, and largely hands-off autopiloting
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Three companies compete for a long-endurance UAV concept
DARPA’s quest for a long-endurance surveillance UAV — “long endurance” means staying in the air for five years — is not yet a reality, but it is no longer regarded as a pipe dream
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Small robotic drones to join Air Force's arsenal
Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, will add surveillance capabilities to the military and law enforcements; scientists have studied the flight of fruit flies, the crawling of insects, and the perching of birds as they look for ideas for smaller and more effective surveillance machines, and MAVs are one result of these studies
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Russian army adopts new reconnaissance drones
The Russian army has ordered a large number of Tipchak UAV systems from Vega Radio Engineering Corp.; the UAVs will serve in intelligence gathering, but company president says: “Our next project is the development of an attack drone based on the current design”
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Forecast: AeroVironment Warms Up
AeroVironment reports its first quarterly earnings numbers for fiscal 2009 today; the tiny UAV company has proven its competitiveness over bigger hitters in its, well, airspace
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Canada replaces Sperwer UAV with Heron, Skylark
The Canadian military has spent more than a quarter billion dollars on the French-built Sperwer UAV over the past five years; the military has concluded that the Israeli-built Heron and Skylark would provide Canadian troops in Afghanistan with better protection
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Analyzing shadows to catch terrorists
NASA scientist says that one way to catch terrorists is by marrying space-based surveillance with gait analysis biometrics: By analyzing the movements of human shadows in aerial and satellite footage it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk
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Environment-friendly spook: Solar-powered UAV breaks endurance record
Qinetiq’s Zephyr high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft flies for 82 hours and 37 minutes
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U.K. start-up to demo serious flying robo-saucer in 2009
Innovative British company will demonstrate a robotic flying saucer next year; the hovering craft is based on the Coanda effect, and will be of help to soldiers and first responders in urban settings
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Robot aircraft rides thermal currents to save fuel
Soaring birds use thermal air currents to keep them aloft for hours and save energy; the same principle is now being applied to UAVs
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Team Stellar wins U.K. MoD's Grand Challenge
The U.K. Ministry of Defense holds a competition to determine the best autonomous robots that can identify, monitor, and report military threats faced by U.K. troops; Team Stellar, comprising several technology-savvy companies, wins
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Unmanned helicopter to aid in search and rescue
The UAVs will search for people in isolated regions, monitor large-area disasters such as floods or forest fires, sample gas emissions over industrial disaster sites, and act as a communication platform when the regular infrastructure is down
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Thales chooses e2v for Sentinel-3 Earth observation satellite
Sentinel-3 will be used to study sea surface topography, sea, and land surface temperature, ocean color, and land color with a high level of accuracy
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