UAVs / Satellites / Blimps

Boeing chooses Qinetiq for Vulture program
Vulture is a pseudo-satellite system aiming to provide operational advantages in terms of persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications
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U.K. UAV competition
The U.K. Ministry of Defence is holding its Grand Challenge, which calls for the design of a platform with a high degree of autonomy that can detect, identify, monitor, and report a comprehensive range of military threats in an urban environment
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NASA's UAV helps fight California wild fires
Fire crews are fighting more than 1,700 blazes that have blackened 829,000 acres of California this fire season; they need all the help they can get — and NASA extends such help by lending the state a modified Predator UAV
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BAE adds to its autonomous airship portfolio
New airship, developed by Lindstrand Technologies, can carry payloads such as high-tech surveillance equipment up to 150 kg in weight to heights of more than 6,500 feet
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Developing a UAV concept of operations
There are more and more UAVs in service, performing more and more missions; there is a growing need to coordinate the use of these systems and impose a coherent concept of operations on their use
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New satallite images identification technology
Researchers offer the first computerized method that can analyze a single photograph and determine where in the world the image likely was taken
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Gates orders more killer UAVs to Iraq, Afghanistan
The firing of the U.S. Air Force chief of staff and the secretary of the Air Force over the mishandling of nuclear weapons has allowed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to accelerate the pace of deploying armed UAVs to the Central Command theaters
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OMG helps UAVs see as human pilots do
Northrop Grumman tests Oxford Metrics Group’s software which make UAVs “see” things the way a human pilot would
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Plasma-propelled flying saucer
University of Florida researcher designs a plasma-propelled flying saucer — the patent application calls it “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle” — which may be used for surveillance purposes; vehicle powered by magnetohydrodynamics — the force created when a current or a magnetic field is passed through a conducting fluid
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Phase II for AV's nano aircraft
Tiny UAV — 7.5 cm wing span, 10 grams in weight — to be used by military, law enforcement to gather information outdoors and indoors
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Pentagon wants laser attack warnings for satellites
The U.S. economy and military capabilities are dependent on satellites for communication and information gathering; growing anti-satellite warfare capabilities — for example, by China — lead Pentagon to seek a measure of protection for space-based assets
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Australia to use UAVs to bolster border security
Australia’s customs agency has been testing an Israeli-made UAV in efforts to enhance the security of the country’s borders
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Boeing Hummingbird breaks heavy UAV endurance record
Boeing’s unmanned rotorcraft breaks endurance record: it flies for nearly 19 hours, carrying a 300-pound internal payload at altitudes up to 15,000 feet, and landing with more than 90 minutes worth of fuel in reserve
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Chinese spy network steals U.S. UAV secrets
Chinese intelligence service plants a spy at the University of Tennessee - he was masquerading as a graduate research assistant - and recruit a retired professor and a local company to steal advanced UAV designs
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Flying saucers, tiny helicopters compete in British war game
The U.K. Ministry of defense held its first Grand Challenge technology competition last week; six finalists receive $600,000 each to develop their concepts into machines; finalists will meet for mock battle in August
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