September 18, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Aaron Mehta
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md – Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, today unveiled a new extended-range drone that it claims can hit previously unattainable distances for small unmanned systems.
The company's Integrator Extended Range design has a 200-nautical mile radius with 10 hours on station, or 300 miles with six hours on station, according to company officials. The 145-pound system was unveiled at the annual Air Force Association conference.
Those ranges improve on current capabilities for unmanned systems of that size, which traditionally have been limited to around 50-70 miles distance and line-of-sight tethering. The increased distance and time comes from advances in satcom technology that have made it possible to shrink down the needed components to useable size.
Esina Alic, Insitu CEO, made it clear the company is targeting the Integrator-ER for the Air Force, saying bluntly during her presentation, “Air Force customer, we have heard you. We are giving you a theater range platform, at a fraction of cost, at a fraction of a footprint compared to today's ISR asset in the field.”
Specifically, Alic and Don Williamson, vice president and general manager for defense with the company, positioned the system as giving the Air Force an option to stop using high end systems for surveillance missions. Buying a lower-cost system like the Integrator would allow higher-capability MALE systems, like the MQ-9, to focus on higher-stakes opportunities or strike missions, while also allowing those systems to pick up missions currently tasked to top-end fighter jets.
“No one in the air force has specifically evaluated this capability,” Williamson said. “One of the purposes of being able to show here is, to be able to reveal this with our Air Force customer. We have a number of engagements coming up over the next couple of days.”
July 15, 2022 | International, Aerospace
After raising $105 million in Series B funding, autonomous flight company Merlin Labs announced a partnership with the United States Air Force to bring autonomy to the service’s C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.
April 2, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
(B2) Formation Continue Panthéon Sorbonne (FCPS) et la Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS), en liaison avec le programme de recherche « Sorbonne War Studies », organisent le 10 avril prochain un colloque sur le thème « Industries et marchés de défense : dynamiques nationales et européennes ». Parmi les points abordés, la coopération nordique, l'axe franco-allemand, le partenariat stratégique France-Belgique CAMO, un état des lieux sur l'ouverture des marchés publics de défense à la concurrence, le programme PEDID et le futur Fonds européen de la défense, etc. Lieu : Amphi II A du centre Panthéon de l'université Paris I, 12 place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris. Inscription Télécharger le programme https://www.bruxelles2.eu/2019/03/30/industries-et-marches-de-defense-dynamiques-nationales-et-europeennes/
November 9, 2022 | International, Aerospace
The teasing of Cloud One Next, or C1N, comes as the Defense Department readies a $9 billion deal known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.