• UAVs on display at the Smithsonian

    As the scope and breadth of UAV deployments grow, so is the public interest in them; the Smithsonian put some of them on display; “UAVs are the future of combat air forces,” says the curator, himself a retired Air Force pilot

  • Canadian government blocks sale of MDA space division

    For the first time in the 23-year history of the Investment Canada Act, the federal government blocked a foreign takeover because of a failure of the “net benefit” test; during this period, successive governments have approved 1,587 foreign takeovers; another 11,214 foreign acquisitions required notification under the Act, but not a formal review

  • U.S. intensifies anti-al Qaeda UAV campaign inside Pakistan

    Pakistan’s inability — perhaps unwillingness — to confront al-Qaeda terrorists in the country’s Northwest Territories led the U.S. intelligence community to say that al-Qaeda now enjoys in areas of Pakistan the same freedom the organization enjoyed in pre-9/11 Afghanistan; in July 2007 we wrote that the day of U.S. unilateral UAV attacks on terrorists inside Pakistan was near — signaled by the deployment to Iraq of a UAV squadron; that day is here

  • Miami police applie for FAA approval for UAV

    Bad guys in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan worry about U.S.-operated UAVs; the Miami Dade police wants to use Honeywell’s “hover and stare” drone to track bad guys in South Florida

    • view counter

  • Six-inch, bat-like UAV to assist in urban combat

    U.S. Army awards $10 million to Wolverines researchers to develop a six inch, bat-like UAV to be used in urban combat; UAV would gather data from sights, sounds, and smells in urban combat zones

  • Space arms race a step closer

    Growing worries about Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities lead Pentagon to field the first system explicitly designed to help counter anti-satellite missiles and other threats

    • view counter

  • Boeing shows biological detection UAV

    UAVs have been performing more and more military and homeland security missions; Boeing demonstrates the use of its ScanEagle UAV in detecting, intercepting, and flying through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents

  • RAF buys UAVs to fight Taliban

    U.S. forces have been using UAVs with ever-greater lethality against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan; the United Kingdom is buying three Reaper UAVs at £10 million each — it will eventually buy twelve — to help British forces in Afghanistan

  • IAI's Stark subsidiary eyeing U.S. defense, homeland security markets

    IAI establishes a U.S. subsidiary to market its UAVs and payloads in the U.S. defense and homeland security markets; IAI is eyeing the U.S. coast guard and border patrol; first goal: Offer IAI’s Heron 1 as an alternative to General Atomics’ Predator

  • Israel's use of UAVs expands

    UAVs are assuming more and more military, intelligence, and homeland security missions; Israel has pioneered the broad-based use of UAVs for all types of missions, and is years ahead of other militaries in incorporating the systems into its operational planning; to know where UAV developments — and deployments — are heading, it would be a good idea to study the Israeli case

  • World's first thermal glider takes off

    The world’s first thermally powered robotic vehicle takes off; the new glider draws its energy for propulsion from the differences in temperature — thermal stratification — between warm surface waters and colder, deeper layers of the ocean

  • Maker of small UAV raises $25 million

    Insitu makes small, light UAVs aiming to tip soldiers off to an impending ambush or track the car of a terrorism suspect; company raises $25 million in fourth round; UAV market will expand from the current $3.4 billion per year worldwide to $7.3 billion within ten years

  • Qinetiq selected for £5 million slice of Watchkeeper contract

    U.K. contractor selected for £5 million contract to deliver a critical part of the £800 million Watchkeeper UAV project; Watchkeeper project is designed to provide U.K. armed forces with specialized surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities

  • Unmanned aircraft will challenge air traffic control

    The rapid growth in the number of UAVs flying the skies for a variety of purposes leads to serious discussion of a UAV air-traffic control system to monitor their flight and prevent accidents

  • Unmanned aircraft takes off and lands on water on its own

    Wolverine researchers develop a UAV which is the first seaplane that can initiate and perform its own takeoffs and landings on water; funded by DARPA, the vehicle will fit into DOD’s “persistent ocean surveillance” program