At the Global Fortune Forum in Guangzhou on December 7th, 1180 EHang drones danced and blinked out an aerial show for 9 minutes. Each drone cost $1,500. Each drone had a datalink and control software. The over one thousand flying drones coordinate autonomously and synchronize movements, with a flight precision of 2 centimeters horizontally and …
This month the MAST (Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology) proram which has been run by the US Army Research Laboratory in Maryland, is wrapping up after ten successful years. MAST co-ordinated and paid for research by a consortium of established laboratories, notably at the University of Maryland, Texas A and M University and Berkeley. There …
China will spend 22 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion) on two prototype molten salt nuclear reactors. Two molten salt nuclear reactors will be built in the Gobi Desert in northern China. * Molten salt reactors can produce one thousandth of the radioactive waste of existing nuclear reactors because of deep burn. More complete conversion of the …
On average it takes about 50,000 bullets to kill one soldier. Soldier have protection and are working together to avoid getting killed. A bullet costs about 50 cents. It costs about $25000 to kill each soldier. It costs less to kill civilian soft targets. There is also the issue of protecting hydro dams and oil …
The US had Predator drones and other large drones with sidewinder missiles and other missiles for quite a while. Smaller and cheaper quadcopter drones have had machine guns and grenade launchers mounted on them with stabilization systems. Drone Swarms launched In Jan 2017, US F-18 fighter jets releasing a swarm of Perdix micro-UAV swarm during …
UC Berkeley professor Stuart Russell and the Future of Life Institute have created video titled “Slaughterbots” that depicts a future in which humans develop small, hand-sized drones that are programmed to identify and eliminate designated targets. The Berkeley professor fears this particular scenario but it is not that big a deal. He and his people …
Stealth planes and submarines currently have the great advantage of being very hard to detect. For stealth planes that can be detected but when it is too late to react. Mass production of new underwater and aerial drones with new sensors and assistance from persistent monitoring from thousands to tens of thousands of small satellites …
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will be the most dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry this decade, more than tripling in the next decade, report Teal analysts in their latest market analysis. Worldwide military adoption of UAVs and soaring demand for the next generation of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) are driving the market’s …
On August 16th General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) flew a MQ-9B SkyGuardian™ Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) from Laguna Airfield at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., through National Airspace, to its Gray Butte Flight Operations facility near Palmdale, Calif. The MQ-9B is a STANAG 4671 (NATO airworthiness standard for Unmanned Aircraft Systems)-compliant version of the Predator® …
U.S. Navy funded Global Near Space Services (“GNSS“) to develop a two stage lighter than air drone. The GNSS program developed a clean, cost-effective satellite-type capability utilizing a high altitude upper-stage shaped LTA coupled with an unpiloted detachable, flying, lower stage UAV containing sensor systems. GNSS subcontracted to Bye Aerospace to design the solar-electric flyable …
Duke Robotics announces, TIKAD, a dramatic step forward in protecting our troops by developing the resources needed to fight terrorism effectively today. Tikad is a quadcopter drone with a sniper rifle, grenade launcher and other small arms. Tikad can have a SR-25 marksman rifle made by Knight’s Armament Co.; an M321A grenade launcher; and an …