News Blog

The A160T Hummingbird comes in for a landing May 9 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona after a high-altitude hovering demonstration.

(Credit: Boeing)

A disparate pair of aviation R&D projects at Boeing have hit milestones recently.

The A160T Hummingbird, a helicopter-style unmanned aerial vehicle, last week flew for 18.7 hours without refueling, an accomplishment that Boeing described Wednesday as an "unofficial world endurance record" for UAVs between 500 and 2,500 kilograms (about 1,100 to 5,500 pounds)--a record that's pending certification by a key aeronautical sanctioning body.

But the record books aside, the flight also helps to show the Hummingbird's mettle as a potential aircraft for military use. During the flight, the turbine-powered unmanned rotorcraft carried a 300-pound internal payload--which in eventual real-life operations might be supplies for ground troops or gear for in-flight surveillance--and flew as high as 15,000 feet. When it finished, it still had about 90 minutes worth of fuel in reserve.

In a test flight last September, the Hummingbird carried a heavier load for a shorter period of time (1,000 pounds and eight hours). The A160T variant first flew about a year ago, taking up where an earlier piston-powered version left off.

Another May milestone for the A160T Hummingbird, which is designed to fly autonomously, involved so-called hover-out-of-ground-effect flights at 15,000 and 20,000 feet. The ability to hover at the relatively high altitudes would make the UAV more effective for missions in mountainous areas and help keep it out of range of some ground-based air defense weapons, Boeing said.

Measuring 35 feet long with a 36-foot rotor diameter, the Hummingbird in service is expected to fly at 140 knots for more than 20 hours. Boeing Advanced Systems is building the UAV for DARPA and for the Army and Navy.

The Advanced Tactical Laser aircraft in flight.

(Credit: Ed Turner, Boeing)

Also this week, Boeing said that on May 13, it fired a high-energy chemical laser--in ground tests--aboard a C-130H aircraft, a step toward in-flight tests later this year in which the laser will fire at ground targets from on high. The directed-energy weapon is designed to fire through a rotating belly turret in the aircraft, known as the Advanced Tactical Laser.

And in a me-too missive straight out of the Cold War, the Russian news agency Novosti reported a patriotic response to the ATL test from an unnamed Russian defense industry "expert." Boeing, it would seem, is late to the game.

"We tested a similar system back in 1972. Even then our 'laser cannon' was capable of hitting targets with high precision," the expert is quoted as saying. "We have moved far ahead since then, and the U.S. has to keep pace with our research and development."

(Credit: Thales UK)

Thales UK released photos of the new Watchkeeper UAV maiden flight in Northern Israel after permission to publish the pictures had been blocked for three weeks because of political considerations, according to industry press reports.

The Watchkeeper, a "fully autonomous" (including automatic takeoff and landing) unmanned aerial vehicle, is expected to assume reconnaissance and target acquisition duties for the British military by 2010, according to Thales.

The robo-platform comes equipped with day/night electro-optic sensors, laser-target designators, and advanced synthetic aperture radar. Information and images collected are transmitted to a network of mobile ground control stations and remote viewing terminals where operators can control missions. It's unarmed but does include a "de-icing capabilit."

Permission to publish the pictures had been blocked by the U.K. Defence Equipment & Support organization since the April 16 maiden flight, according to Flightglobal.com, "due to sensitivities linked to local elections held across the U.K. on 1 May."

The 450-kilogram Watchkeeper, based on the Elbit Hermes 450, will be built jointly by the Israeli company Elbit Systems and the French-owned Thales UK. Starting price was 15 million pounds (more than $29 million) but has reportedly risen to 17 million pounds a pop (more than $33 million), and despite 2,100 lucrative jobs, a good portion of that money will be flying away offshore. There's one reason to be sensitive.

(Credit: iRobot)

The military sees a need for a flying robot that can swoop into an enemy position, transition to wheel or track mode, and then get busy icing bad guys--something along the lines of the Griffon UGV/UAV Air Mobility System.

While unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can wing in quickly to reconnoiter or attack enemy positions, they can't follow a target into a cave or a building. Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), on the other hand, can enter structures, search for targets, and examine them at close range, but they're slower than UAVs, have less range, and are limited by rough terrain.

Awhile back, the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command and the Armaments Research, Development, and Engineering Center funded an iRobot team led by Brian Yamauchi and Pavlo Rudakevych to develop a solution. They came up with the Griffon (PDF), an iRobot PackBot prototype strapped to a gasoline-powered, propeller-driven, radio-controlled, steerable parafoil system. The UVG hangs from a superstructure on which is mounted a 32cc Fuji engine behind an 18- by 8-inch propeller.

For the parafoil, the team considered a wide range of extreme sport kite surfing and traction wings but settled on the 11-meter Ozone Razor. This parafoil is attached by two hang points on the sides, with two arms to control the wing surface and a quick release to jettison the whole contraption on touchdown.The PackBot's on-board computer does the driving and controls the gas. Video, audio, and autonomous ground GPS navigation is also a standard PackBot feature.

The kit is designed to be man-packable and could be used by civilian teams for search-and-rescue in hazardous terrain in addition to military recon and strike missions in urban environments, according to the researchers.

A prototype was tested a few years age and apparently worked well, although it wasn't much to look at. It took off, soared up to 200 feet, landed, and then moved out at speeds of more than 20mph, all under remote control--a first, according to the inventors Yamauchi and Rudakevych. Unfortunately, that's the last it was heard of. The concept deserves another look; it has the makings of a great DARPA challenge.

The Vulture is expected to draw on spacecraft design.

(Credit: NASA)

DARPA is close to awarding a contract for the initial development phase of an unmanned aircraft capable of staying aloft for five years at a time, according to the aviation magazine Flight.

"Aviation has a perfect record--we've never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record," DARPA Vulture program manager Daniel Newman told Flight Global. "We want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft."

Call it a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package"--DARPA does. Documents from the R&D agency envision the Vulture as being able to loiter uninterrupted over an area for more than five years at a time while performing intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communication missions.

The program faces a number of technological challenges, not the least of which is what Vulture is expected to run on. DARPA has ruled out anything radioactive or blimplike, so that leaves fuel cells or solar.

Not only will the new aircraft be required to drift aloft month after month after month, but it will have to do so carrying a 1,000-pound payload while maintaining sufficient speed to withstand the winds at 60,000 to 90,000 feet. In other words, it will operate like a satellite, but not be constrained by the rules of orbital mechanics.

And unlike surveillance aircraft and other UAVs, the Vulture won't be dependent on foreign bases. Hey, we're saving money already.

The U.S. military says it has been steadily increasing its inventory of unmanned flying machines, such as the small, hand-launched Raven model seen here. It can be equipped with cameras that beam back views from above.

(Credit: U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Raymond Piper)

WASHINGTON--The controversial surge in U.S. bodies to Iraq has dominated headlines in recent months, but the "unsung, unknown hero" isn't even human.

Or at least that's the assessment of Col. Donald Hazelwood, who runs the U.S. Army's unmanned aerial systems project office.

Speaking Friday at a confab here hosted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Hazelwood said daily use of drones has "forever changed" the way soldiers see what's around corners, detect improvised explosive devices, and fend off enemies in Baghdad and beyond.

"It doesn't get any better that that, when soldiers tell you it's easy to operate, it's easy to train on, and it's saving lives," Hazelwood said.

Just before the surge, the U.S. Army bumped up the number of unmanned aircraft in those skies by 35 percent, Hazelwood said.

UAV use, of course, spans all of the military branches and continues to increase, officials said Friday. Overall, the Pentagon's inventory of unmanned aerial systems has leapt from about 200 in 2002 to nearly 6,000 in 2008, said Dyke Weatherington, who oversees an unmanned systems wing of the U.S. Department of Defense. For the 2008 fiscal year, the Defense Department has a $15 billion budget just for unmanned systems, and a supplemental $500 million from Congress may also be on the way.

Beyond combat uses, unmanned vehicles are also being "used to give life," said Jason Haines, a 19-year military veteran who has served as a lieutenant commander in Iraq.

On one hand, use of the drones "kept me and my men alive, that's for sure," he told conference attendees. "They kept us ahead of the game. There were no surprises to us."

Testing has begun on a new, high-endurance, weapon-toting UAV called the Sky Warrior, which is built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The Army expects to begin using it next year.

(Credit: U.S. Army)

On the other hand, UAVs flying high above dangerous territories are also relaying tactical information that can help protect civilians, such as humanitarian assistance crews on the ground delivering relief supplies, Haines said. The former firefighter and paramedic said he also saw promise for use of UAVs by local police and fire crews and disaster relief crews in, say, hurricane-wrecked zones. Weather watchers also say the unmanned craft can be used to fly into hurricanes to take readings in place of the people-toting aircraft that now pull that duty.

As fond as the U.S. military is of touting the growing role unmanned vehicles play in battle, officials said some dramatic changes in the technology remain necessary.

One challenge is getting the various different breeds of robot to share data with one another. Right now, for instance, a drone flying in the sky may be able to beam data to computers at a command center, but it can't necessarily integrate data with, say, a ground-based robot.

Greater interoperability would permit soldiers to gather intelligence more easily from a number of different perspectives, rather than relying on one potentially limited source, said the Defense Department's Weatherington. It would also foster more efficient operations in the long run--after all, cost, airspace, and radio spectrum constraints mean the military can afford to add only so many new vehicles over time.

Another tough issue is making sure members of the rapidly multiplying drone population don't collide with one other--and with manned aircraft. Hazelwood said he was optimistic about the prospects for more military UAVs sharing airspace above the United States. The Army has already brought down its accident rates by 60 percent each year for the last three years, he said, so at that rate, "we ought to be able to fly in national airspace and convince the American public by 2012."

WASHINGTON--For decades, U.S. government scientists have sliced specially equipped planes through hurricanes and other severe weather on a quest for crucial data to fuel weather forecasts. But in the future, drones are expected to do more and more of that work.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wants to tap more and more unmanned planes like this Aerosonde model, seen here during a 2005 demo in Florida, to gather data from severe storms in ways that manned vehicles can't.

(Credit: NASA)

In the coming years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration envisions acquiring and leasing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a senior official said Friday at a conference here put on by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International. They'll be tasked with monitoring everything from weather conditions and fires to ice melting in the Arctic and endangered marine mammals near Hawaii.

"We think the time has come," said Scott Ryder, chief of staff for NOAA's unmanned systems division. "We're going to do it with this technology, and we're on our way."

UAVs could prove a boon to NOAA's operations because traditional hurricane-hunting missions using manned WP-3D Orion or Gulfstream-IV jet aircrafts face numerous limitations, Ryder said.

For one thing, they can't descend too low in the storm because high winds can kick salt water up into the engines, causing damage and potentially endangering flight crews, although Ryder said no lives have been lost as a result of such accidents yet. Hurricane hunting aircraft also aren't as adept at predicting storms that are more than 72 hours away, which is a problem, since the Federal Emergency Management Agency would like to be able to make evacuation calls 96 hours in advance, Ryder said.

By contrast, a high-endurance UAV can remain in the eye of a storm for several hours and stay at altitudes as low as 80 meters, about 50 percent lower than a traditional hurricane-hunter's minimum altitude range.

Last November, NOAA sent an Aerosonde UAV into Hurricane Noel for 17 hours and 27 minutes, collecting 7.5 hours' worth of data from the storm's core. A handful of other demonstrations have occurred during the past few years. In 2009 and 2010, NOAA plans to work with NASA to study hurricanes using a UAV called the Global Hawk, which the U.S. Air Force has used extensively in combat.

For now, the UAV program is in its infancy, but some other projects have already begun in "testbeds" in the Arctic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico regions, Ryder said.

Compared with the Defense Department's $15 billion budget for unmanned systems this year, NOAA's share of the pie is a minuscule $3 million. But the agency has requested double that for next year, and Ryder said he expects spending to swell to $25 million to $30 million two or three years from now. (Ryder, for his part, did concede that as a political appointee, he most likely won't be around at that point.)

Beyond hurricane research, NOAA also plans to use UAVs to fill "critical gaps" in its existing satellite coverage, Ryder said. For example, it's not always possible to get complete climate information over the Pacific Ocean using satellites alone, he said.

Another potential use is monitoring so-called "atmospheric rivers," which can cause flooding rains NOAA found contributed to massive mudslides in Southern California in 2005. It also plans to work with NASA during the next few years to conduct missions in the Arctic and Antarctic to gather data about climate change.

(Credit: Oklahoma State University)

Researchers at Oklahoma State University are working with DARPA to deliver a sophisticated, unmanned aircraft small enough to fit into a soldier's pocket, reports the Daily O'Collegian.

A state-of-the-art propulsion system, one that uses plasma thrusters with no moving parts, could provide power for micro and nano unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV.)This class of airplane can measure anywhere from a foot to less than 6 inches long.

"What we want the infantrymen to be able to do is pull a pack of six or so out of their pocket and have them ready for use," Jamey Jacob, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering told the Daily.

The new line of aircraft would take over some of the duties performed by today's UAV fleet, mainly surveillance of hostile areas, and would be a significant improvement over the UAV equipment available to soldiers today, according to Jacob. OSU students are working on another DARPA project, an aircraft that can stay aloft for five years at a stretch.

(Credit: Oklahoma State University)

A Reaper lands at Creech AFB in March.

(Credit: U.S. Air Force photo)

A next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle piloted from Nevada has fired a weapon in Afghanistan in its first-ever strike on enemy combatants.

The MQ-9 Reaper on Saturday launched a Hellfire missile in a location known as Deh Rawod. The strike, the Air Force reports with great understatement, was successful.

A bigger, more heavily armed follow-on to the Predator UAV, the Reaper has been flying missions in Afghanistan since the last week of September. Until this weekend, however, it had been limited to its secondary role as a tool for surveillance and reconnaissance. With the missile-firing sortie, it has now lived up to its primary job description as a "persistent hunter-killer" that not only finds the bad guys, but takes them out.

The Air Force hasn't said how many Reapers are in Afghanistan, only that at the moment it has nine of the UAVs in its inventor. ("Reaper" is the Air Force's dark term of endearment for the aircraft; when it's flying peacetime missions, such as fighting wildfires, it's known as the Predator B.)

The Reapers fly their missions out of Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan. The pilot for the remote-controlled aircraft is thousands of miles away at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

(Credit: Alenia Aeronautica)

While hardly the Armani of unmanned air vehicles, this Italian robo-plane's gourd-like form and earthy, ochre hue could fit right in with your autumnal cornucopia squash arrangement.

But the plane's paisanos are aiming a bit higher. The Sky-Y Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned, flying machino is one part of Rome-based Alenia Aeronautica's effort (PDF) to stake a claim in the expanding UAV world market.

Stretching a substantial 10 meters wing to wing, the Sky-Y's main innovations are its all-composite structure, a Dieseljet TDA 1.9 liter, direct-injection engine and its two-part ground station--one for the operators and the other for services--both of which fit into standard NATO C-27J airliftable modules. The main gear is fixed, which is unfortunate from an aesthetic standpoint, but the nose gear is retractable so that's something.

The aircraft is designed to operate in either civil or military capacity for up to 14 hours at more than 25,000 feet, with a 1,200-kilogram takeoff weight. Payloads will include EO/IR sensor and hyperspectral cameras. The data gathered will be processed and fused in flight by high-speed on-board computer systems from Quadrics.

The company hopes the use of light, carbon-fiber construction and diesel-propulsion technology will reduce both costs and pollution. It plans to have the Sky-Y on the market by 2011.