Airbus to implement UAVs at their plants

Airbus has already demonstrated the use of Ascending Technologies’ Falcon 8 UAV with RealSense depth-sensing technology from Intel to visually inspect airliners. The manufacturer has said it will implement UAV inspections of the A350XWB widebody airliner this year.

As said, for the initial tests the company used a multi-rotor UAV supplied by Ascending Technologies, a German company that U.S. semiconductor manufacturer Intel acquired in early 2016. “Now it’s a manual system with people having to climb all over the plane,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich told the Xponential 2017 conference in Dallas in May. “With Airbus we’ve developed a system that’s capable of doing inspections both on the tarmac or in the hangar. Airbus has developed additional software that allows you to do an airplane inspection, identify and geolocate defects, understand their size and dimensions, then push out a data report that allows you to go back and do a repair.”

The GRVC-CATEC team will implement a UAV-based tool delivery and locating system at Airbus Defence and Space’s Centro Bahía de Cádiz site in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, early next year, said Antidio Viguria, head of CATEC’s avionics and unmanned systems department. The plant specializes in manufacturing carbon fiber components for programs including the A400M transport and A330 MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport). It also produces fan cowl doors for the A320neo narrowbody airliner.

Afghanistan: Germany to Operate Heron-1 for Additional Year

Germany has extended a leasing contract to operate the Israeli Heron-1 unmanned aerial system (UAS) for another year in support of ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

Estimated at tens of millions of dollars, the contract concluded between the German Defence Procurement Agency and Airbus DS Airborne Solutions, a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space, extends Heron operations in Afghanistan until February 2018. 

In its news release, IAI noted that its Heron-1 recently marked 30,000 hours in Afghanistan since the German Air Force began operating the system in 2010. The German Air Force also is operating the Heron-1 in Mali as part of a United Nations policing mission. “Our connection with the German Air Force is of course highly important, and we are proud to continue to provide an operational solution together with the excellent cooperation we have with Airbus,” said retired Israeli Air Force Brig. Gen. Shaul Shahar, IAI's executive vice president and general manager of the firm’s Military Aircraft Group.  

Airbus sees big growth in UAV market

Airbus Defence and Space believes the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market is poised for massive growth, and it is seeking to become involved in this sector, through technology like its Zephyr pseudo-satellite. (Read more)

El sistema europeo "Sense and Avoid" progresa adecuadamente

Hace unas horas, Alenia Aermacchi ha dado a conocer que las primeras pruebas del futuro sistema anticolisión automático para vehículos aéreos no tripulados han resultado todo un éxito.

Las pruebas han sido llevadas a cabo durante las últimas semanas utilizando la base aerea de Grazzanise y durante las mismas fue utilizado un avion de transporte C-27J de Alenia Aermacchi, que voló intencionalmente cerca de un UAV Sky-Y a diferentes altitudes y con diferentes direcciones.

El Sky-Y estaba equipado con radio, electro-ópticos, infrarrojos y radares proporcionados por el consorcio MIDCAS, que comprende Airbus D&S, ESG, Indra, Saab, Sagem, Selex-ES y Thales, así como Alenia Aermacchi. Los países que participan en el proyecto MIDCAS son Francia, Alemania, Italia, Suecia y España.

Airbus Markets UAV-Based Surveillance Package

Airbus Defence & Space is planning to offer a high-altitude unmanned air vehicle-based surveillance capability for disaster relief, using a variety of systems that it is in the process of finalising. The approval test was carried out in controlled airspace under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence, the Military Aviation Authority, the Type Airworthiness Authority (TAA) and the unmanned air vehicle arm of the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support group.

Airbus seeks European OK

Airbus Defense and Space said it will now work with EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) to develop a certification process for civilian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) based on the process normally used for manned aircraft.

The application, which Airbus described as the first in Europe, was filed for the company's Atlante UAV, which is intended for a number of civil missions, such as surveillance of oil pipes, power lines and railways, as well as for use during natural disasters.

The Atlante was developed by Airbus in Spain. It weighs nearly 1,257 pounds and has a wingspan of 26 feet. "The launch of the Atlante application will help EASA to secure a world-leading position in the establishment of the appropriate regulatory framework under which such systems will be designed, produced and maintained. And it will enable Airbus Defense and Space to maintain a leading industrial position in this new and challenging civil aviation sector. UAVs represent a rapidly growing activity in commercial aviation that will have a very significant economic impact in the near future," said Miguel Ángel Morell, head of Engineering for Military Aircraft at Airbus Defense and Space.