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Intelligent Unmanned Aircraft Planned
Cambridge MD (SPX) Oct 03, 2006 U.S. researchers say they are creating an intelligent airborne fleet of small, unmanned vehicles for military use. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and their colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Boeing Phantom Works in Seattle say such unmanned aerial vehicles would require little human supervision and could automatically monitor their own condition. The existing UAVs can be easily carried in a backpack and launched by hand, but they typically require a team of trained operators on the ground, and perform only short-term tasks individually rather than in coordinated groups. However, the prototype of the fleet under development would automatically maintain the "health" of its vehicles -- for example, vehicles would anticipate when they need refueling, and new vehicles would automatically launch to replace lost, damaged, or grounded ones. MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Professor Jonathan How, who heads the research team, believes such a fleet of UAVs could one day help U.S. military and security agencies in difficult or dangerous missions, such as search-and-rescue operations, sniper detection, convoy protection and border patrol. The test platform under development consists of five miniature helicopters, each a little smaller than a seagull.
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LM Selected To Develop FAA Road Map For Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Rockville MD (SPX) Sep 28, 2006The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected Lockheed Martin to support the development of a "Road Map" for introducing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System. Lockheed Martin will assist the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Program Office in refining its operating plans and budgetary requirements by creating a five-year road map of government and industry UAS initiatives. |
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