The Northrop Grumman-built unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have completed inaugural flight tests ahead of their delivery to Japan. Defence prime Northrop Grumman announced it successfully completed the first test flight of Japan’s RQ-4B Global Hawk last Wednesday (15 April). The UAV was procured by the Japanese Ministry of Defence in 2014, and is expected to
Finnish-Australian technologist Sami Mäkeläinen shares his insight into the vastly hyped world of eVTOLs and flying cars, and cautions that reality may just fall flat on science fiction. New technologies are undoubtably exciting. Sometimes, however, the excitement shared in the concept of new technologies does not translate well into reality, and the idea of what
Israel Aerospace Industries has announced that it is entering into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi-based military contractor EDGE to deliver a cutting-edge counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS). IAI will be working closely alongside EDGE’s subsidiary SIGN4L, which specialises in electronic warfare, to manufacture the systems. It is expected that the C-UAS will include
The US Federal Aviation Administration will begin testing new technologies that detect unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in shared airspaces from later this year. The regulator has chosen five airports to host the initial tests, which form part of the FAA’s Airport Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detection and Mitigation Research Program. The program will include testing at
The world’s first pop-up mobile airport for eVTOL vehicles and drones is set to open its doors in Coventry, UK, by November this year. Korean car manufacturer Hyundai and British company Urban-Air Port have teamed up for the project, which hopes to see similar small, demountable airports specifically catering to electric cars, air taxis and
Acoustic engineering professor Antonio J Torija Martinez shares his research on drone noise pollution, and how to reduce such noise moving forward, in this cross-posting with The Conversation. These days almost everyone has either flown a drone or listened to the nasty whining sound they produce. Although small drones (up to 20 kilograms) are about
