6 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
by Pat Host
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) in March and April 2020 demonstrated three expanded automatic take-off and landing capability (ATLC) enhancements for its MQ-9A Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
One improvement enables the aircraft to land at an alternate, or divert, airfield in which no ground control station (GCS) is present while also under satellite communication (satcom) control, GA-ASI announced on 25 June. With the divert landing enhancement, the remote pilot can enter the new landing area co-ordinates to automatically land at the selected location.
The pilot can also overfly and self-survey the divert airfield's runway using the Reaper's multispectral electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor to obtain co-ordinates for an automatic landing. Once uploaded to the MQ-9A's mission profile, the Reaper's aircrew enables the ATLC system, which allows the aircraft to automatically manoeuvre itself into a landing pattern and make the automatic landing.
This enhancement will enable operational Reapers to land at alternate airfields on their own because of poor weather, changing mission requirements, or damaged runways, GA-ASI president David Alexander said in a 25 June statement. GA-ASI demonstrated this aerial runway survey capability on 23-24 April at GA-ASI's Gray Butte flight operations facility near Palmdale, California, a company spokesman said on 29 June.
The second enhancement expands the cross-wind limits of the MQ-9A. The third improvement increases the maximum landing weight for normal and emergency landings. The heavyweight landings were demonstrated throughout March and April at the Southern California Logistics Airfield in Victorville, California.
24 mars 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said on Friday they have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defence aimed at countering the rising threat from Russia.
3 avril 2024 | International, Aérospatial
ATHENS, April 3 (Reuters) - Greece has approved the purchase of 35 UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters from U.S defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), opens new tab in an effort to modernize its armed forces, two people with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
7 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Lockheed Martin [LMT] is using 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, technology to lower the cost of manufacturing F-35 flight simulators by an estimated $11 million over the next five years.Using new 3-D printing machines, the number of parts and components... http://www.defensedaily.com/lockheed-lowering-f-35-simulator-costs-3-d-printing