Defense Daily reports, “The V-BAT unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has successfully complete{d} operational test and evaluation with the Coast Guard, clearing the way for the service to begin employing the drones aboard its National Security Cutters (NSCs) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance uses, the service and drone supplier said on Thursday.
Full Story (Defense Daily)
Tag: UAS
Gray Eagle UAS Performs First Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Flights
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has conducted its first flight test series of the Gray Eagle® Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) using a Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) satellite constellation for aircraft communications. Contracted by the U.S. Army, the flight tests began in January 2025 and mark a significant milestone, reportedly making GE-ER the first long-endurance U.S. Army aircraft to be controlled over the new satellite service. Gray Eagle is also the only U.S. Army UAS capable of leveraging Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and PLEO constellations for secure, inflight adaptable and resilient communication, navigation and data management.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Flight Tests Prove Capability of Sikorsky’s ‘Rotor Blown Wing’ Drone
Defense News reports, “Through extensive flight tests earlier this year, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky has proven the capability of a ‘rotor blown wing’ unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the company announced Monday. The drone is a 115-pound, battery-powered twin prop-rotor aircraft that the company said can be scaled larger, ‘requiring hybrid-electric propulsion.’”
Full Story (Defense News)
Video
Sikorsky Flies Rotor Blown Wing UAS in Helicopter and Airplane Modes
(Lockheed Martin; YouTube)
Textron to Provide Drone-Enabled ISR Support for US Navy’s 5th and 6th Fleets
The Defense Post reports, “The US Navy has awarded Textron Systems $64 million in contracts to provide drone-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services for ships of the 5th and 6th fleets. The contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) deals stipulate the deployment of the firm’s Aerosonde small expeditionary unmanned aerial system (UAS) with enhanced mission payloads as well as skilled personnel to aid a variety of the vessels’ maritime ISR tasks.”
Full Story (The Defense Post)
General Atomics Gray Eagle STOL Performs First Ship-to-Land Flight
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), in collaboration with South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, has achieved a significant milestone with the Gray Eagle STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). On November 12, 2024, the Gray Eagle STOL successfully launched from the South Korean Navy’s amphibious landing ship Dokdo and completed its flight with a smooth landing at Pohang Navy Airfield.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Sikorsky Performing Flight Trials for VTOL Tail-Sitter UAS
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, is carrying out flight tests to mature the control laws and aerodynamics of a novel vertical takeoff and landing uncrewed aerial system (VTOL / UAS). The flight tests aim to prove the efficiency and scalability of a twin proprotor ‘rotor blown wing’ configuration, designed to sit on its tail to take-off and land like a helicopter, and transition easily to horizontal forward flight.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Remote ID Rule for Drone Operators in Full Effect
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “The FAA policy, for exercising discretion in determining whether to take enforcement action for drone operators found in breach of the Remote ID Rule, ended on March 16, 2024.” Drone operators in the US “now face fines and suspension or revocation of their drone pilot certificate” if it is determined they are not in compliance with the FAA’s Remote ID Rule.
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
UAS Service Industry Call for FAA Regulatory Framework
Aviation Today reports that uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) service suppliers are requesting for the FAA “to implement a regulatory framework to safely integrate small UAS into airspace at altitudes of 400 feet and below, after years of delays.” The FAA is “working with industry and public stakeholders to develop a UAS traffic management (UTM) system.” The FAA began “collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2015 to establish and implement a framework to research, develop and test increasingly complex UTM concepts and capabilities with industry stakeholders.” Aloft Founder and CEO Jon Hegranes said that the FAA and NASA are “sitting on their hands,” waiting to “see what industry does.” The emergence of UAS “has the potential to provide significant social and economic benefits to the United States, according to a January 2021 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.” The FAA in 2020 “forecasted that, by 2024, the small UAS commercial fleet, those operating in connection to a business, would grow from 507,000 to 828,000.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)
FAA Asks for Feedback on UAS
ExecutiveGov reports that the Federal Aviation Administration is asking for feedback from UAS industry members “on requests by four companies to fly uncrewed aerial vehicles beyond visual line-of-sight.” Aerial data acquisition services provider Phoenix Air Unmanned, UAS technology developer uAvionix and autonomous delivery companies UPS Flight Forward and Zipline “have sought permission to conduct BVLOS drone operations at or below 400 feet, the FAA said Tuesday.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)
Pearland Police First in US to Receive FAA Approval for Station-Controlled Drone
The Houston Chronicle reports that Pearland’s police department “has become the nation’s first law enforcement agency to win Federal Aviation Administration approval to use a system in which drones controlled from a police station can be dispatched throughout a municipality to assess incidents, which officials say can save time, resources and lives.” Drone pilot and Pearland police officer Herbert Oubre said that the approval will allow the department to “better assess a scene prior to getting an officer on the scene.” The police drones “will rely on a technology called Casia G, developed by Iris Automation Inc., that enables remote airspace awareness during flight.” The drones “will use another system, called DroneSense, to relay information to the operator at the station.”
Full Story (Houston Chronicle)