A collision between a passenger jet and a drone has left the plane undamaged but the aviation industry deeply shaken: ¿What could a terror-drone do to a plane? ¿How many drones are out there? ¿How many incidents involving drones have there been? ¿What are the rules? ¿What can be done to cut the risk? The incident brings attention to the number of unregulated drones in the sky and the potential for a terror-attack. (Read more)
As 3D Printing technologies continue to grow, it allows the aerospace industry to lower costs and production time. At the Dubai Air Show, Stratasys unveiled the largest 3D printed UAV. Bloomberg was there as it happened:
PHOENIX has been developed specifically for the Defence Industry as a high performance training solution for a variety of artillery and air defence missile systems. It is able to simulate a realistic high speed threat in excess of 280 kts, with enhancements including a Miss-Distance Indicator (MDI), Infra-Red and multi-spectral smoke and also the integration of a Luneburg lense system to meet the targeting requirements of a wide range of weapon systems, including electro-optical and radar target acquisition.
The heart of the system is UAV Navigation's Flight Control System (FCS), an onboard autopilot capable of controlling all the onboard systems, including Engine Control Unit (ECU), all servos, parachute release, datalink, pyrotechnics (smoke etc), Luneburg lens system and MDI.
In addition, a complete Ground Control Station (GCS) is provided with the Visionair mission control software which runs on a standard PC. Training on the system is around 5 days
The capability of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) for rapid manufacturing of complex-shape and fully functional UAV parts directly in the battlefield, without rough post-processing, is such an exciting possibility that cannot be matched by any traditional manufacturing technologies.
The objective of this funded proposal is to establish a multiphysics computational framework and tool to predict the residual stresses and temperature map in the damaged key-parts of UAVs that are rapidly restored using AM without disassembling the parts from the system.
Although the proposed research will focus on utilizing AM for restoring the damaged parts, it can be also used for on-demand and customized manufacturing of the whole parts directly from the digital blue-prints; thus, the proposed research will enhance the utilization of AM for this purpose too.
The UK revealed on 21 March the extent of airstrikes being conducted against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by Royal Air Force (RAF) General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). (Read more)
El pasado miércoles, la corporación rusa UIMC (United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation) ha presentado un nuevo UAV capaz de ser armado con lanzaderas RPG-26 y RPO-A, concebido especialmente para encontrar objetos enemigos tales como tanques o vehículos blindados, y destruirlos posteriormente mediante el lanzamiento de cohetes.
Para localizar y atacar con efectividad a los carros de combate, el UAV determina las coordenadas de una ubicación mediante GLONASS, y corrige en caso necesario el fuego de artillería. En cuanto a su funcionamiento, está pensado para ser desplegado en escuadrillas programadas para llevar a cabo misiones de forma autónoma en un area concreta, ya que cada UAV cumple su función de forma independiente y se ajusta exactamente a una ruta específica.
¿Qué significa GLONASS?
GLONASS (acrónimo de Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema) es un GNSS (acrónimo de Global Navigation Satellite System) desarrollado por la Unión Soviética, y que constituye el homólogo del GPS estadounidense y del Galileo europeo. Consta de una constelación de 31 satélites que se mueve en órbita alrededor de la Tierra con una altitud de 19.100 km (algo más bajo que el GPS, que orbita a 20.200 km) y tarda aproximadamente 11 horas y 15 minutos en completar una órbita. El sistema está a cargo del Ministerio de Defensa de la Federación Rusa.
¿Qué significa RPG-26?
RPG es el acrónimo de Rocket Propulsed Grenade, y RPG-26 es la denominación de una lanzadera de granadas anticarro desarrollada por la Unión Soviética. Dispara cohetes monoetapa capaces de atravesar una corazas metálicas de 40 centímetros de espesor, a una distancia de 250 metros.
¿Qué significa RPO-A?
El RPO-A Shmel es una lanzadera portatil desarrollada por la Unión Soviética, para el lanzamiento de cohetes dotados de cabeza termobárica, concebidos especialmente contra vehículos ligeros.
