UAS and Robotics


Will the Air Force ever catch up with its UAV data backlog?

It may be years before the Air Force has the human resources and tools in place to keep up with the enormous amounts of data gathered from its fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles and the sophisticated sensors that they employ on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, says Air Force Secretary Michael Donley.

Marine Shadow UAS to get classified weapon, payload improvement

The Marine Corps has chosen a classified weapon to arm its RQ-7B Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system and plans to equip two of the aircraft armed with the weapon in Afghanistan before it decides to arm the rest of its 13 remaining systems.

Looking for a sharper image with sensors for unmanned platforms

The military's shift to high-definition sensors requires many changes.

Raven tactical UAV to get sensor boost

Aerovironment's Raven RQ-11B unmanned aerial vehicle will get a new miniature, gimbaled sensor payload that will give warfighters better situational awareness via higher visual fidelity and continuous observation of an item of interest.

Are miniature drones with flapping wings really practical?

The main challenge in making miniature drones with flapping wings work on the battlefield is finding enough battery power.

Poseidon P-8A delivered to Navy, ready for BAMS integration

Naval Air Station Jacksonville celebrated the arrival of the first new, network-enabled P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft in late March.

Global Hawk has staunch defender in Congress

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, says he will recommend continuing funding for the Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft, which the Air Force plans to put into storage as a key part of a comprehensive budget-cutting effort.

Big data poses big challenge for military intelligence

As sensors continue to generate enormous volumes of data, DOD planners are struggling with techniques to ensure such data remains useful to warfighters.

Winners and losers in the fiscal 2013 budget

It's been several weeks since the release of the fiscal 2013 defense budget, and heads are certainly still spinning in the Pentagon. Here are some of the winners and losers at each of the services.

Who will get to fly Navy UAVs?

The Navy has decided that unmanned aerial vehicles weighing more than 55 pounds will be operated as adjuncts to manned aircraft systems.

Pakistan rejected offer by US to scale back UAV attacks

U.S. officials offered key concessions to Pakistan's intelligence chief in January regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles against al-Qaeda in the southwest Asian nation in an effort to regain the trust of Pakistani officials, but the offers were rejected.

Barry Rosenberg

From 10,000 feet to the tactical edge

The April issue of Defense Systems can be read as a series of complementary pairings, beginning with a couple of Q&As that go to the heart of the Navy's cyber and IT activities.

Webcast

  • Improving Performance Management and Project Control to Meet Cost/Schedule Milestones in DoD Procurement

    It can be nearly impossible to build annual budgets that consider forecasted project and program work plans along with detailed cost data, particularly when attempting to reconcile actual and projected program costs with actual schedule performance. In this webcast, a defense IT program manager will share best practices and hard-won lessons aligning critical data on project performance, cost systems and schedules for truly big picture program management insight. Read more