The largest uncrewed aircraft ever launched from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier has paved the way for the next generation of UK naval air power. Codenamed ‘Mojave’, the specially-modified aircraft – operated remotely by a ‘pilot’ at a computer terminal – has taken-off from and safely landed back on board HMS Prince of Wales in […]
Applications & Testing & Experience
Rotor Technologies Performs First Uncrewed Autonomous Helicopter Test Campaign
Rotor Technologies, Inc. (Rotor), a developer of autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, has completed the first autonomous helicopter flight campaign of a full-scale civilian helicopter. The campaign was flown with two Rotor R220Y autonomous helicopters. The R220Y is an experimental platform based on the popular Robinson R22 two-seat helicopter, with seats, pilot controls, […]
Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie Completes U.S Marine Corps Test Flight
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has announced that the Marine Corps XQ-58A Valkyrie, a highly autonomous, low-cost tactical unmanned air vehicle successfully completed its first test flight October 3, 2023, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Kratos partnered with the Marine Corps, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD […]
Turkish UGV Test-Fires Kamikaze Drones
Turkey’s Havelsan Barkan 2 UGV demonstrated launching reconnaissance, surveillance, and kamikaze munitions on October 12. The first successful launch with BARKAN took place on January 8, 2023, and ROKETSAN’s guided mini missile Mete was fired from a land vehicle for the first time with BARKAN 1. On this occasion, HAVELSAN successfully fired kamikaze ammunition from […]
BAE System Australia’s Long-Range Drone STRIX Passes Critical Design Review
BAE System Australia’s ambitious long-range drone, STRIX, has passed the company’s critical design review, and though it is slightly behind schedule for first flight, the company expects to provide an operational system for the self-funded aircraft in 2026. Passage through CDR resulted in “some key elements of the platform modified compared with the model exhibited […]
US Office of Environmental Management Tests Radiation-Detecting Drone
A drone outfitted with radiation detectors recently underwent testing at the Portsmouth Site for potential future use as part of growing collaboration between EM and the state of Ohio. “The Portsmouth Site has the radioactive source materials while the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has the drones,” Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Nuclear Safety Oversight Lead Tom Hines said of the partnership. […]
Airbus Tests Naval UAS at Sea from a French Navy Frigate
Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group, in collaboration with the French Armament General Directorate, DGA (Direction génerale de l’armement), and the French Navy, have tested the SDAM demonstrator (Système de Drone Aérien Marine/ Naval Aerial Drone System) from a multi-mission frigate (FREMM). The trials took place on board the French Navy frigate, Provence, in the Mediterranean […]
First Australian Hydrogen Drone Flight
Swinburne University of Technology’s Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) has successfully completed the first flight of an Australian-developed hydrogen fuel cell electric powered VTOL drone. The flight test was achieved using AIR Hub’s innovative Small Hydrogen Aircraft Development & Evolution (SHADE) drone. This flight marks a significant milestone in Australia’s advanced air mobility (AAM) […]
Northrop Grumman B-21 Begins Taxi Testing
The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider has begun taxi testing in at Northrop’s facilities at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, according to the US Air Force (USAF). “I can confirm the B-21 is conducting ground taxi activities,” a USAF spokesperson told Janes . “Rigorous testing is a critical step in the B-21 flight-test programme. […]
Raytheon’s KuRFS and Coyote Detect and Defeat UAS Targets at US Army Summer Tests
Raytheon, an RTX business, successfully demonstrated the capabilities of the Low, slow, small-unmanned aircraft Integrated Defense System, or LIDS, during the U.S. Army’s annual summer test period. Joining U.S. Army officials were representatives from a number of international allied ground forces who attended to witness the test events firsthand. Raytheon’s Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor, known […]