Saturday, June 22, 2019

Terminator Times #59

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones):

Iran shot down an American MQ-4C Global Hawk/Triton UAV.  The US claimed the drone was in international waters.  This crisis rapidly escalated.  Trump didn't think Iran would have intentionally shot down the drone.  How to react to the Iranian attack is no small or simple thing.  The Iranians claim they warned the drone multiple times before opening fire.  The US was 10 minutes from launching an attack when Trump called it off.  This was the first successful shoot down of a Global Hawk or its derivatives.  This was the second drone shot down after several attempts.

The USAF is buying its COTS quad copters from Parrot, a French company.  is that the same as PSI?

A drone airbase in Niger built by the US is finished, but no flights have begun due to security concerns.

The US Air Force claims Iran tried to shoot down an American Reaper drone.

A USAF Reaper shot down by Yemen Houthi rebels with Iranian help.

Another Reaper was shot at by a MANPADS during the tanker attacks.

USAF Reapers participated in Red Flag for the first time.

The USAF AFL stated the XQ-58A Valkyrie has flown for a second time.

The USAF wants to buy 20 to 30 Kratos Valkyries.

The US Navy awarded Northrop another $66M contract for the BAMS-D program.

The US Navy awarded General Atomics $36.5M contract for services related to the Reaper.

Belarus is pursuing armed multirotor UAVs.

France awarded a $39M contract to BAe for a sensor pod for its Reapers.

France is qualing the SDT Patroller UAV.

Israel is losing market share when it comes to UAVs.

Jordan is selling its 6 Chinese-made CH-4B UAVs.

Malaysia will deploy its ScanEagles with its Navy.

Philippines is close to finalizing a $180M deal to buy Elbit drones.

The Russian Ohhotnik-B supposed did a high speed run with a hop, leaving the ground, but not truly flying.  First flight is supposed to be July or August.

A Russian firm has made a drone with a blinding/dazzling laser for security forces.

Did Russia spoof GPS lately to protect Putin from drones?

Russia is concerned about US drones being deployed to Poland.

Saudi Arabia may have been attacked again by drones.  The Houthi rebels claimed attacks on the Jizan and Abha airports.  And the Saudis are saying there was another attack.  The Saudis said the Abha attack was beaten back and 5 drones were shot down.  The Abha and Jizan airports were attacked again.  The drone attacks are almost daily now.

The Syrian army claims to have downed a drone near the Hama airport.

Taiwan has obtained Honeywell engines for its Teng Yun UAV.

Taiwan is going to spend $2.5 billion developing suicide drones.

The UAE has been cleared to buy the RQ-21A.

Ukraine's upgraded Spectator UAV has entered service.

AeroVironment bought Pulse Aerospace.

Collins Aerospace worked with Sikorsky to develop a triply redundant fly by wire autonomous flight solution.

IAI has launched the Tactical Heron UAV product.

Insitu got a contract from the US DOD to provide 34 ScanEagle UAVs to Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam

General Atomics has integrated a new EO/IR imaging system with the SkyGuardian UAV.

Kratos has ten different jet powered UAV projects underway.

InstantEye has launched its extended range Mark 3 drone.

Leonardo is launching a new drone to compete with the Predator and launching ISR as a service.

Lockheed has unveiled the Condor UAV.

Mikoyan is developing a Loyal Wingman.

Schiebel is tackling icy conditions on its S-100 camcopter.

Sikorsky has unveiled it tested the Optionally Piloted Vehicle technology on the UH-60A Blackhawk.

UVision unveiled new HERO suicide drones.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos, Ogres and Terminators, oh my!):

The US Army has is planning on the ATLAS automated turret being tested soon.

The US Army is looking at a 30mm cannon in the turret of the Robotic Combat Vehicle - Medium.

Watch this armed Israeli bot shoot on a target range.

Milrem's Themis gets exercised in an armed fashion.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro-boats):

The Zumwalt class destroyers will be tasked as part of an experimental squadron to test out USVs.

Can the US Navy handle unmanned ships?

The US Navy sent a report to Congress on the USVs.  The purpose of those systems (and UUVs) is to tackle China.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (robo subs):

BAE is buying the technology of a US UUV company.

Hunting Ingalls is helping build the unmanned ships and subs of the future, including the Orca.

Exoskeletons:

The US Special Forces is shutting down the Talos powered armor program and spinning out individual components.  The parts being kept are transitioning to the HEO effort.

3d Printing:

GE has 3d printed parts for the General Dynamics entrant for the Ground Combat Vehicle competition.

Software Bots:

Thales has bought an American "AI" company.

A software bot is helping with V-22 maintenance.

META:

The US Army is exploring manned-umanned teaming.

The US Army is buying over 9,000 drones and moving ahead with supply carrying UGVs.

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