UAS | Soldier Systems Daily Soldier Systems Daily

Archive for the ‘UAS’ Category

GA-ASI Delivers First New-Build MQ-9A to USMC

Thursday, May 18th, 2023

SAN DIEGO – 16 May 2023 – Following delivery of the first two MQ-9A Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) that were procured upon the successful completion of a Company-Owned Company-Operated (COCO) Deployment Contract, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) are celebrating the delivery of the first new-build MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) UAS to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on April 19, 2023. The delivery of the first new-build MQ-9A ER is part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program.

“It’s exciting to make this initial delivery to NAVAIR, which strengthens the relationship between GA-ASI, the USMC, and NAVAIR, while launching the MUX MALE (Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance) Program of Record from concept into reality,” said GA-ASI Senior Vice President for MQ-9 Systems, Fred Darlington.

GA-ASI was selected by the USMC in 2022 to deliver eight MQ-9A ER UAS as part of the ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract.

The MQ-9A ER is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear that extend the aircraft’s endurance to more than 30 hours while further increasing its operational flexibility. The aircraft provides long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities with Full-Motion Video and Synthetic Aperture Radar/Moving Target Indicator/Maritime Mode Radar. An extremely reliable aircraft, MQ-9A ER is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight control system and a triple-redundant avionics system architecture. It is engineered to meet and exceed manned aircraft reliability standards.

Posted in Press Release, UAS, USMC | Comments Off on GA-ASI Delivers First New-Build MQ-9A to USMC

Release of 2Q23 DroneSentry-C2 Platform Update

Friday, May 12th, 2023

DroneShield is pleased to announce it has today begun the rollout of a major update to the DroneSentry-C2 platform.

These enhancements are available for all DroneSentry-C2 systems deployed with DroneSentry customers globally, who are enrolled with an active firmware subscription, via secure cloud or on-prem updates.

Following the release of the ground-breaking DroneSentry-C2 SFAI (Sensor Fusion Artificial Intelligence) Engine last quarter, the DroneShield team has worked closely with its customers to refine the user experience and performance of its industry leading capability.

?
Image: DroneShield DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control system

Major enhancements include:

• New ‘Actions’ Panel – All operator actions required for drone detection and mitigation have been centralised in single quick to use, easy to understand, ‘Actions’ panel. This panel provides real time feedback to the operator as the state of the system changes to deter the threat.

• Consolidated Notifications Panel – The previous ‘Notifications’ and ‘Alerts’ panels have been removed and consolidated into a unified ‘Notifications’ panel. The result is a cleaner user experience.

• Mode Selector from Top Bar – With SFAI, the DroneSentry-C2 can be set to run in different modes, Calibration, Monitor and Operational. These modes can now be quickly toggled between any page of the GUI.

• Improved Detection Event Detail from Analytics – Analytics now displays all relevant detection information from the ‘Replay Event’ tool just as it was for the live flight.

• Improved Radar Settings – Radar systems will automatically apply masks and filters based on the installation settings selected by the operator. This significantly reduces the amount of manual masking and filtering required.

• Enhanced WebSocket’s API – DroneSentry-C2 now supports a robust WebSocket’s based API where integrators and third-party systems can connect and received Sensor Fused objects, streamed to them in real time.

Angus Bean, DroneShield Chief Technology Officer, commented, “A key challenge for drone security is reaction time. The speed at which drones can move and their ability to be deployed in close proximity to the target often results in a window of less than 10 seconds. During this time, the system must detect the drone, the operator must assess the situation and countermeasures or otherwise appropriate responses deployed. This update ensures that the DroneShield SFAI engine for detection matches with a high-quality user interface to ensure reaction time.”

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield CEO, added, “DroneShield is unique globally, in being both a sensor developer/manufacturer, as well as designer of own Command-and-Control/C2 system. This enables streamlined end user experience with the DroneShield ecosystem, as well as flexibility to supply customers with sensors, the C2 (utilising a mix of DroneShield and third-party sensors, or both.”

Posted in Press Release, UAS | Comments Off on Release of 2Q23 DroneSentry-C2 Platform Update

Smaller, Safer, and Easy To Use: EasyOne Drone LiDAR

Friday, May 12th, 2023

Company that Launched The World’s First Quadcopter Drone Announces The New Standard For Drone LiDAR

May 9, 2023

Denver, CO- From the floor of Xponential, drone surveying pioneer Microdrones announced an entirely new drone platform built around the demands of geospatial professionals. Vivien Heriard-Dubreuil, CEO of Microdrones explains “We’re excited to announce this new drone platform that prioritizes three key areas: transportability, a simple control interface and ease of use.”

Xponential participants crowded the Microdrones booth for a closer look. “This is EasyOne,” said Frank Darmayan, company CTO, as he pointed to the display. “It fits in a case that’s about two and a half feet long and a foot and a half wide and deep. The mdCockpit mission planning screen is fully integrated into the RC. All sensitive onboard electronics are designed, manufactured and assembled in Germany. It’s just as powerful and capable as our legacy systems but it’s even easier to use.”

EasyOne is an optimized and fully integrated drone system that will provide the lifting power to carry Microdrones LiDAR and photogrammetry surveying equipment. It improves upon the company’s legacy drones in three key areas:

EasyOne is Easier to Transport.

EasyOne features a significantly smaller operational form factor with the same payload capacity of the md4-1000 platform. In addition to a smaller operational form factor, the EasyOne packs down even smaller, fitting the drone, remote, charger, two batteries and the payload into a protective storage case that’s small and light enough to bring anywhere.

EasyOne has an Improved RC Controller and mdCockpit Interface.

EasyOne will feature an entirely new controller design that provides an enhanced user interface and safety features.

• Combined device and integrated remote control- the RC and tablet are one integrated control unit.

• FPV available directly on the remote

EasyOne is easy to use.

Heriard-Dubreuil explains, “We want to make it even easier for geospatial professionals to adopt this technology and make it a part of their daily work. We offer complete systems to plan flights, fly data collection in the field, process data and then visualize it for better decision making. You are getting a fully integrated package from one company; it includes the drone, RC, mdCockpit flight planning software, survey LiDAR+ imagery payload, LP360 data processing software, workflow, training, and support. EasyOne is the complete package.”

Vincent Legrand, Vice President of Global Sales adds, “Plus, as part of the EasyOne lineup customers can take advantage of the all-new Easy Replacement Program. Should you have an accident or problem in the field, this program gets you up and running with an EasyOne replacement in a timely manner.”

True to its promise, Microdrones offers fully integrated systems and it launches the new aircraft platform in North America with three fully integrated LiDAR sensor options to meet your needs.

• EasyOneLiDARUHR+

• EasyOneLiDARUHR or UHR Lite

Designed and assembled in the USA and Germany, Microdrones technology, firmware, software and workflow developed and refined since 2006 is used with the new airframe to provide:

• new autopilot integrated into a single board- this means less cabling, less weight, more compactness and less risk of connection-related failures and better electromagnetic compatibility.

• Additional sensors to improve safety and awareness

• mdCockpit software ecosystem for mission planning and control directly integrated into the RC

• EasyOne is certified as a “Remote Identification Unmanned Aircraft” following FAA 14 CFR Part 89.

• payload connection/communication quick-connect

• real time terrain follow

According to Legrand, “Responsible sourcing is becoming increasingly important for many of our government customers. For these institutions, we will soon offer NDAA-compliant EasyOne systems that take our responsible sourcing to an even higher level, with RC and sensor sourcing options that are exclusively NDAA compliant. We are in process for Green UAS Certification.”

To learn more about these new EasyOne systems and their capabilities, visit the links above or schedule time to talk with your Microdrones sales team by completing this form.

Posted in Press Release, Sensors, UAS | Comments Off on Smaller, Safer, and Easy To Use: EasyOne Drone LiDAR

Spirit UAV Now Available Through GSA

Friday, May 5th, 2023

Wilmington, MA – Ascent AeroSystems, a leading unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions provider, is pleased to announce that the Blue UAS-approved Spirit UAV is now available for purchase through the General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage website.

The Spirit UAV is a high-performance, multi-role aircraft designed and manufactured in the United States for a wide range of applications, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), search and rescue, border patrol, disaster relief and more. The industry-leading Spirit provides operators with an all-weather platform equipped with best-in-class integrated EO/thermal sensor payloads so personnel can reliably dispatch the surveillance asset they need whenever and wherever they need it.

The Spirit UAV is available in a range of configurations to meet specific mission requirements and is designed for easy transport and deployment, with a rugged, lightweight airframe that is backpack portable and can be quickly assembled and disassembled for storage and transport.

“Government operations require drones for a variety of reasons, including ISR, target acquisition, monitoring and inspection, rogue gas detection, etc.,” said Paul Fermo, VP of Business Development at Ascent AeroSystems. “Most drones are designed for single mission type, or worse, are restricted by a closed ecosystem, which limits their usefulness and subjects the government to obsolescence. Not Spirit. Spirit has a modular open architecture that allows government operators to customize the platform to meet any operational requirement, all from one common airframe.”

The Blue UAS-approved Spirit UAV is a trusted, versatile, secure platform for mission-critical operations. As the world’s most rugged and versatile coaxial drone, the Spirit is uniquely suited to serve the needs of mission-critical operators anytime, anywhere.

For more information on the Spirit please visit www.ascentaerosystems.com.

Posted in Press Release, UAS | 1 Comment »

DEFEA: RT and CopterPIX Launch the Sky-High DI System, a Combined Tactical Aerostat and Mini Quad Rotor Drone

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

The combined investigating system provides a comprehensive detection solution

DEFEA, May 9-11, Metropolitan Expo, Athens, Greece, Hall 2, Stand A2

May 3rd, 2023. RT LTA Systems Ltd. – a world-class designer, developer, and manufacturer of the SkyStar™ family of aerostats for use in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communications applications – will launch, together with CopterPIX, the Sky-High DI system, a combined tactical aerostat and mini quad rotor drone. Providing a comprehensive detection solution, the investigating system combines the SkyStar™ 180/330 aerostat and the ERE-95 mini quadcopter.

SkyStarTM is an aerostat family of combat-proven, compact and mobile, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems based on lighter-than-air platforms. Designed for extended surveillance and reconnaissance missions for force protection and intelligence gathering, they operate day and night, with a minimal crew at an altitude of up to 1,500 ft, and carry high-performance payloads.

The ERE-95 Mini quad-rotor drone, designed for long-range inspection missions, has a dual day/thermal camera and an 80-100 minute flight time – providing at least 30% longer endurance time than any other commercial platform. These drones consistently outperform the competition in both military and non-military testing, performing complex missions in fully operational and challenging conditions, and are used worldwide by leading government, defense and commercial organizations.

Rami Shmueli, CEO of RT, says, “The integrated system can respond to an extensive range of scenarios. Until today, our system has enabled 24/7 observation and the collection of intelligence information through the wide range of payloads the system can carry. Now, thanks to the integration with the ERE-95 Mini, it also enables target tracking, and provides an active response to every scenario.”

Posted in International, Tradeshow, UAS | Comments Off on DEFEA: RT and CopterPIX Launch the Sky-High DI System, a Combined Tactical Aerostat and Mini Quad Rotor Drone

AeroVironment Awarded $10 Million Contract by NASA/JPL to Co-Design and Develop Two Helicopters for Mars Sample Return Mission

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023

The success of Ingenuity Mars helicopter, co-designed and co-developed by AeroVironment and NASA/JPL, lays the foundation for the development of the Sample Recovery Helicopters

Early Concept for the Sample Recovery Helicopter Based on Ingenuity. (Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech)

ARLINGTON, Va., May 2, 2023 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) has been awarded a $10 million contract by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to co-design and co-develop conceptual designs and engineering development units of Mars Sample Recovery Helicopter flight systems. Future efforts could include detailed design, build, and test of qualification and flight hardware. The helicopters build upon the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter design heritage and feature upgraded robotics to supplement aerial mobility.

AeroVironment engineers from the MacCready Works team previously worked with NASA JPL to co-design and develop the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which has completed 52 successful flights to date on Mars and survived 781 sols on the surface, far outperforming its design objectives.

“Accomplishing the impossible has been AeroVironment’s mission for more than 50 years and we are excited to be working with the NASA JPL team again to conquer the next challenge,” said Scott Newbern, AeroVironment’s vice president and chief technology officer. “Ingenuity’s flights on Mars are a giant leap for robotic technology. Now we’re advancing this science further by helping to build helicopters that not only will continue flight on Mars, but also will include apparatus to collect samples to bring back to Earth for this historic mission.”

The two planned Sample Recovery Helicopters would be a secondary method of sample retrieval for the NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return Campaign. NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has already been collecting a diverse set of scientifically selected samples for potential safe return to Earth, is currently planned as the primary method of delivering samples to the Sample Retrieval Lander.

The Sample Recovery Helicopters would expand on Ingenuity’s design, adding wheels and gripping capabilities, to provide a secondary method to pick up cached sample tubes left on the surface by Perseverance and transport them to the Sample Retrieval Lander. Once the sample cache is launched off the red planet, another spacecraft would capture it in Mars orbit, and then bring it back to Earth safely and securely in the early to mid-2030s. After the samples are on Earth, scientists around the world would examine them using sophisticated instruments too large and complex to send to Mars. The samples would remain available for future generations to study with increasingly advanced technologies. Scientists believe the samples could shed light on whether life has ever existed on Mars.

Posted in Contracts, Press Release, Space, UAS | Comments Off on AeroVironment Awarded $10 Million Contract by NASA/JPL to Co-Design and Develop Two Helicopters for Mars Sample Return Mission

Aeronautics Will Supply the Greek Ministry of Defense with Dozens of Advanced Orbiter 3 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems as Part of the Spike Missile Deal

Thursday, April 20th, 2023

The agreement is part of the significant G2G contract between the Israeli and Greek Ministries of Defense for the procurement of Rafael’s Spike missiles

17 April 2023, Aeronautics Ltd. – a world leader in designing, developing and manufacturing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for global defense and HLS markets – announces a contract to supply dozens of its Orbiter 3 systems to the Greek Ministry of Defense. The agreement is part of the large contract between the Israeli and Greek Ministry of Defense, worth approximately 370 million euros, for the procurement of Rafael’s Spike missiles.

As part of the contract, Rafael will provide an advanced solution enabling significant operational advantage to the modern battlefield; While the Orbiter 3 systems detect, recognize and identify (DRI) the target, the Spike missiles, launched from the air, sea, or land can rapidly close the sensor-to-shooter loop, using the “Fire Weaver” C4I system. The rapid Sensor to Shooter process implementing advanced technologies, enables mission success.

The Orbiter 3 is a small tactical unmanned aerial system and considered to be one of the leading systems in its class worldwide providing superior performance for both defense and HLS applications. Highlights of the Orbiter 3 operational performance includes advanced ISTAR capabilities, runway-independent, long endurance, the capability of carrying various types of payloads, advanced image processing, a small logistical footprint, navigation including in a GPS-denied environment and the ability to withstand harsh weather conditions.

Dan Slasky, CEO of Aeronautics Group: “We are proud to be a part of this significant cooperation with Rafael in the G2G agreement with the Greek MOD. This collaboration demonstrates the technological synergy, and the close business integration between the two companies. We also thank the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which has invested significant efforts to facilitate the agreement, and to the Greek Ministry of Defense for expressing it’s confidence in the Aeronautics’ solution.”

aeronautics-sys.com

Posted in Contracts, International, Press Release, UAS | Comments Off on Aeronautics Will Supply the Greek Ministry of Defense with Dozens of Advanced Orbiter 3 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems as Part of the Spike Missile Deal

GA-ASI Flies MQ-20 Avenger Autonomously Using LEO SATCOM Data Link

Wednesday, April 19th, 2023

SAN DIEGO – 11 April 2023 – On April 6, 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) conducted live, tactical, air combat maneuvers using Artificial Intelligence (AI) pilots to control a company-owned MQ-20 Avenger® Unmanned Aircraft System. Collaborative maneuvers between human and AI pilots were conducted using GA-ASI’s Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) ecosystem over a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM) provider’s IP-based Mission Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) datalink. The LEO SATCOM connection was also used to rapidly retrain and redeploy AI pilots while the aircraft was airborne, demonstrating GA-ASI’s ability to update AI pilots within minutes.

This marks the first deployment of a LEO SATCOM provider connections running on an operationally relevant unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) platform. The team used two L3Harris Technologies RASOR Multi-Functional Processors (MFPs) – one that housed the transceiver card and another that controlled the BLOS Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA). The test aircraft was outfitted with a Ball Aerospace BLOS AESA system, capable of full duplex operation. The demonstration highlighted GA-ASI’s commitment to operationalizing CCA by fusing innovative future warfare technologies, such as GA-ASI’s AI pilots and LVC ecosystem, and L3Harris and Ball Aerospace BLOS datalink solutions.

“The flight demonstrated GA-ASI’s unmatched ability to fly autonomy on real, tactically relevant, unmanned combat aerial vehicles,” said GA-ASI Senior Director of Advanced Programs Michael Atwood. “It displayed effective BLOS Command and Control through the collaboration between three defense primes. This showcases our rapidly maturing CCA mission system suite and moves us one step closer to providing this revolutionary capability to the warfighter.”

GA-ASI leveraged its end-to-end CCA ecosystem for the flight that fused third-party capabilities, human-on-the-loop control, and autonomy to enable effective human-machine teaming for 21st century conflicts. Operator commands were captured via hands on throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls and were sent via LEO SATCOM to AI pilots running Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms. AI pilots autonomously tracked and maneuvered around dynamically, and updated entities specified via HOTAS. Operators were provided updates from AI pilots on a cockpit heads-up display and could dynamically re-task via HOTAS as the mission evolved. In addition, data from agent performance was collected and sent to the ground where agents were retrained to improve performance, and then redeployed via LEO SATCOM in a matter of minutes.

This is another in an ongoing series of technology insertion and autonomous flights performed using internal research and development funding to prove out important concepts for UAS.

www.ga-asi.com

Posted in Comms, Press Release, UAS | Comments Off on GA-ASI Flies MQ-20 Avenger Autonomously Using LEO SATCOM Data Link