US UAV and UCAV Technology

Mako = the target drone; the image you've got there is of the Kratos Valkyrie, which is essentially a stealthy Mako with the ability to drop weapons on target coordinates given to it.
 
fredymac said:
The original image of the Mako looked a lot like the EADS Barracuda. I wonder if they ran into patent problems.

If Dassault didn't have any problems with their Neuron looking so much like the Boeing Phantom Ray I don't see why Kratos should.
 

THE PENTAGON – The Marine Corps has refined its vision for a large sea-based unmanned aerial system (UAS) after honing in on capability gaps the Marines most urgently need to fill.

Since creating a program of record for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) UAS Expeditionary (MUX) in the summer of 2016, the service has learned much about what it really needs, what industry can provide, and how to keep the program’s cost from becoming unmanageable, Col. James Frey, the director of the Marine Corps’ Aviation Expeditionary Enablers branch, told USNI News in an April 18 interview.

MUX is meant to be a Group 5 UAS capability that launches from an amphibious ship or other ship and can land either on a flight deck or in an expeditionary airfield. This large system would supplement the Marines’ Group 3 RQ-21 Blackjack and the ongoing fielding of small quadcopters at the lowest levels of the infantry – dubbed “quads for squads.”

Though the MUX was originally given a lofty set re
 
This is LM Fury 1500, unveiled back in 2011 by - then - AME Unmanned Air Systems, flying in her previous iteration since 2008.
 

The Army is partnering with Uber to create safer, more lethal unmanned aerial vehicle missions.

The new effort between the Army Research Laboratory and the rideshare company, announced on Tuesday, aims to create silent rotor technology.

The goal is to reduce the noise caused by traditional UAV rotors.

“When UAVs are doing an [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] mission, they’re out there collecting or observing to collect intelligence or to do surveillance,” Jaret Riddick, director of ARL’s Vehicle Technology Directorate, told Army Times after the announcement.

That mission is hampered, however, when the adversary can hear the UAV coming, Riddick said.

“They know a certain noise in the distance means a certain type of operation is underway,” he said. “When you can do that with the advantage of not being detected … it changes how you execute a mission.”
 
The mishap data in the article was particularly interesting... Does anyone know where it comes from?
 
A 2012 Class C accident where an unnamed drone flew into an aerostat in Kuwait, destroying both the UAS and the balloon.

TA-DAAAA
 

Executive Summary

Unmanned and autonomous systems will create fundamental shifts in the way that the Department of Navy (DON) conducts naval operations. Integration of unmanned and autonomous capabilities offers many advantages such as reducing personnel and manpower, risk to personnel, and operating costs, as well as offering greater persistence and range, improved speed and accuracy of data processing, and supporting a faster decision cycle. Unmanned and autonomous technologies will become a powerful and ubiquitous force multiplier in an integrated human-machine team. The combination will provide capabilities that far exceed the effectiveness of platforms or humans alone. Employment of manned/unmanned teams and technologies will transform modem warfare, increasing asymmetric operations, leveraging the technologies to the DON’s advantage, and give the warfighter the edge to win the fight.
 

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The Marine Corps and Navy are preparing for a high-end fight that will require ships to be distributed across the ocean rather than clustered around an aircraft carrier, and the Marines’ future Group 5 unmanned aerial system will give them the airborne early warning capability to break free from the carrier and its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft.

With the F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter now fielded, an Upgunned Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) – a typical Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) embarked on a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), plus a couple cruisers or destroyers – is a formidable naval unit: it carries a Marine landing force, a fifth-generation stealthy fighter capability, a high-end radar paired with the Aegis Combat System, and the networking to tie them all together. The only thing missing is an airborne early warning system like the Navy’s E-2D to identify and cue surface and air threats.
 
What is this ?.
 

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fredymac said:
Anti drone drone. I guess it's cheaper than shooting a missile. It uses an electronically scanned Ku band radar to find/intercept enemy drones. They must have figured out how to build them cheap.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VJ7ZMqO3xs&feature=youtu.be


Another video showing different uses for this UAV.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOh2bG2uCPU

When it can deal with stuff like this I'll be impressed:

 
We already had a topic on the AeroVironment/DARPA Broomstick, so I moved the related posts there.

A few words of advice for those who post in this kind of generic topic:

1°) The "Various" topics are NOT meant as big carryall bags. They exist only to collect TEMPORARILY the stuff that doesn't already have a discussion and is not important enough or documented enough to get one. If a specific topic exists, it is always preferable to post there. Before posting, therefore, always make sure to use the search field at the top right-hand corner of the page (set on "Entire Forum") to check first if there isn't already a post or a topic on the subject you wish to discuss or the image you wish to share.

2°) Try to think of those who browse through pages of posts and only see link after link. I'm sure some people will click to see what it's about, but others (such as me) will not bother if they don't at least have a one line explanation of what they are going to find there. A small image attached to the post is of course a bonus. It makes further reading of the topic so much easier.

3°) When quoting someone, it is useless to leave to integrated images or videos in the quote. Leaving only the segment that is relevant to your reply is enough. Don't forget videos make the pages take a lot longer to load, and not everyone lives in areas with fiber, cable or even speedy ADSL connections.

Thanks to all!
 

One Marine could soon dispatch more than a dozen drones to jam enemy communications and take out targets -- all from a single handheld tablet.

The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab has successfully tested the ability to have a single Marine operate six drones in the air simultaneously. The goal is to get that up to 15 and to see the small unmanned systems stay in the air for hours at a time.

"What we're looking at is ... minimal operator burden so [a Marine's] face isn't down in a tablet," said Capt. Matt Cornachio, a fires project officer with the Warfighting Lab's science and technology division. "It's sort of having the machines do the work for you, so you give them intent and they operate."
 
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/textron-demos-thrust-vectoring-tech-for-possible-rq-452516/
 
US Navy has developed a unique flying circuit board unmanned aircraft - Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft). Each CICADA is fully autonomous, flying independently to a user-specified GPS location to deliver a small sensor suite
 

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The BattleHawk Squad-Level Loitering Munition is a lightweight, man-portable system that allows dismounted troops to locate, validate and interdict soft targets including enemy personnel and light vehicles. A backpack-carried system, the BattleHawk can be deployed quickly via tube launch, providing critical protection and prosecution capability against both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) threats

View: https://www.facebook.com/defencetech/videos/2381773901894904/
 
 
HAWK30 Takes Flight - AeroVironment Achieves Successful First Test Flight of Next Generation Solar HAPS Unmanned Aircraft System
September 16, 2019

Successful first test flight takes place less than two years after program start
Test program to expand operating envelope with sequentially higher and longer flights
SIMI VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 16, 2019 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV), a global leader in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for both defense and commercial applications, announced the successful first flight of the HAWK30 solar HAPS unmanned aircraft system on September 11, 2019 at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.AeroVironment partnered with SoftBank Corp (TOKYO:9434) to create HAPSMobile Inc., the joint venture funding HAWK30 design development and demonstration.

“The first flight of HAWK30 builds on more than two decades of pioneering HAPS technology development and demonstration by the AeroVironment team, and comes only two years since SoftBank joined us in this endeavor,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment president and chief executive officer. “We are the pioneer and leader in HAPS, delivering continued progress and demonstrated success. We look forward to achieving even greater success in flight testing, culminating in high-altitude, long-endurance flight demonstrations that will pave the way for the global commercialization of HAPS technology.”

“We are grateful for the expertise and support from NASA’s outstanding team at the Armstrong Flight Research Center. We are proud to add another milestone to their storied history of aviation innovation,” Nawabi added.

Developed and assembled in AeroVironment’s HAPS Innovation Center, the HAWK30 has a wingspan of approximately 260 feet and is propelled by 10 electric motors powered by solar panels covering the surface of the wing, resulting in zero emissions. Flying at an altitude of approximately 65,000 feet above sea level and above the clouds, the HAWK30 is designed for continuous, extended missions of up to months without landing.

AeroVironment seeks to create value from its unique HAPS intellectual property and capabilities in multiple ways: participating in the anticipated growth of the HAPSMobile joint venture as one of its two owners; generating customer-funded research and development revenue as the exclusive developer of solar HAPS for HAPSMobile through the design, development and demonstration phases of the program; manufacturing and supplying HAPS UAS to HAPSMobile; supporting and maintaining a deployed fleet of HAPS systems; and marketing and selling HAPS UAS to non-commercial customers globally, with the exception of Japan.

AeroVironment pioneered the concept of high-altitude solar-powered UAS in the 1980s, and developed and demonstrated multiple systems for NASA’s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology, or ERAST program, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In August 2001, the AeroVironment Helios prototype reached an altitude of 96,863 feet, setting the world-record for sustained horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. In 2002, the AeroVironment Pathfinder Plus prototype performed the world’s first UAS telecommunications demonstrations at 65,000 feet by providing high-definition television (HDTV) signals, third-generation (3G) mobile voice, video and data and high-speed internet connectivity.

 

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Anduril “The Flame of the West” company

Palmer Lucky starting to follow this guy
 
Anduril “The Flame of the West” company

Palmer Lucky starting to follow this guy

Last guy to name his company out of Tolkien was Peter Thiel with Palantir. I'm not sure JRR would approve of this trend, especially as he's on record as saying LoTR is not an anti-communist parable.
 
Good luck to him. Low kinetics kill hasn't the sexiness of H2K or the coolness of direct energy (!) to raise much attention on the market.
 
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