Tag Archives: UAS

The U.S. Army awarded six firms transaction agreements to conduct rapid prototyping of drone capabilities that implement advanced situational awareness and “eye in the sky” technologies, DVIDShub reported Monday. The Army partnered with the Defense Innovation Unit for the Short Range Reconnaissance program to develop portable drones with vertical take-off and landing features suitable for providing situational awareness support to soldiers on the ground.

Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and John Thune, R-S.D., are urging the Federal Aviation Administration to publish a proposed rule on remote identification of drones to prevent the entry of unauthorized drones in critical areas. Markey and Thune sent a letter to the Department of Transportation calling for action on the rule that would permit authorities and the public to remotely track unmanned aircraft systems and their operators during flight, Markey’s office said in a statement released Monday.

Layne Merritt, head of U.S. Army’s Aviation Development Directorate, said the service plans to conduct a series of demonstrations for a new fleet of air-launched unmanned aircraft in the coming years, Defense News reported Tuesday. The service looks to develop a capability to deploy drones from a larger aircraft and perform advanced manned-unmanned teaming for reconnaissance, surveillance, long-range targeting, attack, decoy, resupply and casualty evacuation missions.  

The U.S. Army has cancelled its plans to further a technology demonstrator program focused on designing, building and flying next-generation unmanned aerial system capabilities, Defense News reported Friday.

The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to update its Kaman K-Max helicopters to incorporate autonomous capabilities intended to support experimental cargo delivery operations, Flight Global said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month that the service branch plans to modernize its two K-Max aircraft as part of its K-Max autonomy research effort and Marine Air Ground Task Force – Unmanned Expeditionary Capabilities program.

The Department of the Interior saved $14.8 million in 2018 as it expanded its fleet of unmanned aircraft systems to support operations across the U.S. The department released its UAS Program 2018 Use Report Monday that details the agency’s spending and aircraft use during the year.

The U.S. Army began a demonstration of cooperative operations between manned and unmanned rotary aircraft, Flight Global reported Thursday. The Advanced Teaming Demonstration Program began on March 14 and aims to test a new technology designed to facilitate manned-unmanned coordination.

The U.S. Marine Corps wants to make a decision on testing and fielding its anti-drone Marine Air Defense Integrated System by the end of the year, USNI News reported Monday. MADIS is a platform designed to detect and neutralize drones from adversaries by integrating radars, optics, jammers and passive detection sensors.

The U.S. Army patented a net-carrying grenade-sized weapon that the service built to catch and deter unmanned aerial systems, C4ISRnet reported Monday. The grenade works in a standard 40mm launcher and features sensors that detect the target before launching the net onto the drones. Initial testing of the tool showed it can effectively engage and stop a UAS threat, according to the patent. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate awarded two organizations a total of $1.1M to support the Data Privacy research and development project, DHS said Thursday. The Data Privacy effort aims to mitigate privacy risks on critical data transmitted through mobile computing, connected sensor platforms, automated systems and other digital services.