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This massive amount will be spent during the next 10 to 15 years, giving an indication of the magnitude of the move away from the current doctrine of always having a pilot in the loop. While the numbers for individual activities such as the acquisition of MQ-4C Triton are identified in the 2020 Force Structure Plan, they were helpfully aggregated today by Wing Commander Keirin Joyce, the RAAF’s Chief Engineer for ISR projects. Speaking at a conference held by the Australian Association of Unmanned Systems, he also predicted that Remotely Piloted Vehicles will become a thing of the past to be replaced by uncrewed and optionally crewed systems.
At the top of his list is Boeing Australia’s ‘Loyal Wingman’ Air Teaming Vehicle, with a value of $7.4 – $11 billion. He noted that several other allied air forces are pursuing similar goals: the USAF; USN; and RAF. Next in the FSP is an item Additional ISR capability, in the range of $4.1 – $6.1 billion. This is in addition to other procurements that are currently underway such as three MQ-4C Tritons under contract out of a total of six to be bought ($1.8 – $2.7 billion) and up to 12 MQ-9B Predator-derivatives ($1.6 – $2.4 billion).
(PHOTO: Boeing Australia)
He also indicated that there is a doctrinal shift going on in the RAAF away from the position of the last few years that all of these systems will be Remotely Piloted Vehicles, pointing out that RPVs are not stealthy because of the need to communicate with them. With advances in AI, aircraft are moving rapidly up the autonomy curve. While for legal reasons a person might be needed in the loop to authorise the use of weapons, that hardly seems necessary for a vast range of ISR missions. Airframes such Triton and Predator are likely to be the only RPVs in the RAAF inventory due to being designed to a somewhat anachronistic set of principles – APDR’s words, not those of the Wing Commander.
At APDR we have always assumed that the enthusiasm for the RPV concept comes entirely from the Old Pilots Club, never wishing to let go of the joystick and distrustful of modern gadgets like computers. In Israel – a world leader in the design and application of uninhabited aerial systems – the use of a highly trained person to control a surveillance drone is regarded as a complete waste of a pilot.
Such a person is able to fly at high subsonic speeds, pull a 5g turn with the ground proximity warning blaring while keeping an eye on the radar screen and all that time be listening to a disoriented wingman on the radio while hyperventilating through an oxygen mask. By contrast, the person controlling a system such as Triton is sitting in a temperature-controlled office with a cup of coffee flying sedately on a fixed course and well away from commercial aircraft traffic. The maximum g-forces that person will experience is when they stand up for a refill.
This is the new normal for RAAF: Remotely Piloted is out; Uncrewed is in.
By Kym Bergmann
Small improvements to a drone LiDAR survey can make big differences in efficiency, productivity and safety. A major limiting factor for any UAV survey is the drone’s battery life which, along with the weight of the payload, impacts on the drone’s flight time. Imagine the improved productivity and scope of work that could be undertaken if the drone’s flight time could be significantly increased.
Skyfront and Routescene explored the impact on the productivity of using the longest endurance gasoline-electric hybrid multicopter drone, the Skyfront Perimeter 8.
The impact of reducing downtime
Typically a drone utilising lithium polymer batteries, such as a DJI M600, and carrying a 3.3kg payload (for example a Routescene UAV LiDAR system) would operate with a flight time of around 15-20 minutes. Landing, replacing the batteries and take-off between each flight can take longer than the flight itself, directly influencing the size of the survey area that can be flown each day.
To compound this larger survey sites may require multiple take-off and landing sites, which means all the equipment needs to be moved from one site to the next, further limiting the number of flights in a day. The Skyfront and Routescene teams knew that increasing flight times, thereby reducing the unproductive time in a survey day, could significantly impact on data collection productivity.
The teams tested the Skyfront Perimeter 8 drone carrying a Routescene UAV LiDAR system at the Skyfront headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA. The Skyfront Perimeter 8 is an eight rotor hybrid UAV designed for carrying heavier payloads such as LiDAR.
The Perimeter 8 has both rotor and complete engine redundancy for safety. The results: the Perimeter 8 drone was able to fly for a total of three hours carrying the Routescene payload.
Gert Riemersma, Founder and CTO of Routescene, commented, “Through this testing, the team found the greatest benefit gained was regarding efficiency. Due to the longer flight times, only one take-off and landing site was required, removing the need to travel between sites to repeatedly set up. In addition, a considerable amount of time was saved simply by eradicating turn-around times to replace batteries. We estimated that by achieving 3 hours of flight time at 5m/s you can readily cover 54 survey line kilometres or just over 500 acres. This is equivalent to roughly 10 x M600 flights, which would normally take two days to complete. An impressive result, reducing two days of
surveying into less than one day, simply by eliminating downtime.
The Routescene UAV LiDAR system has been designed to maximise productivity, with a solid-state disc onboard capable of storing over 13 hours worth of data, more than enough for a full day in the field. The quality of the data being collected is monitored in real-time during the entire drone survey using Routescene’s QA Monitor, a web-based app, to make sure you leave the survey site with the data you need. At the end of the survey the data can be downloaded and checked in the field using Routescene’s LidarViewer Pro data processing software.
Gert added, “Routescene has a strong ethos of quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC).
Implementing rigorous QA/QC improves data quality and efficiencies. QA Monitor gives you confidence in the data you are collecting while you are collecting it. The last thing you want after completing a long survey flight is to realise there was an issue and the team has to mobilise to fly the area again. It prevents time being wasted, you can identify an issue immediately, remedy it there and then in the field, bringing further efficiencies to the increased gains brought by longer flight times.”
The significance of longer flight times
Longer flight times have a positive impact on safety too. The riskiest parts of a UAV flight are the take-offs and landings, when the drone is under manual control and hence when accidents are most likely to occur. Reducing the number of take-offs and landings obviously directly reduces the probability of an accident.
Brian Maxwell, VP of Business Development at Skyfront, confirmed, “Our flight time of 3 hours was particularly impressive and allowed a huge volume of 3D data to be collected efficiently. We found that we could considerably improve the resilience, efficiency and safety of UAV LiDAR surveys by increasing the flight time.”
Christian Andresen from the University of Wisconsin added, “In 2017 and 2018 we surveyed areas of the Arctic as part of the NGEE Arctic project researching changes to permafrost and ecosystem structure. What we observed over the 2 years whilst working there was how much drone technology improved and the positive impact that had on flight times.
The Arctic location was exceptionally remote and all incremental improvements make a huge difference to our efficiency and reduce time spent in the field. A drone that could fly for 3 hours would make a dramatic difference for our future surveys in this remote area.”
For more information on the Skyfront Perimeter 8 drone and Routescene UAV LiDAR system, please visit www.routescene.com and www.skyfront.com
By PRESS
The use of drones in criminal activities is on the rise, and law enforcement organizations are using new equipment and tactics for prevention and prosecution.
WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Inc. has delivered the DroneFoxTM Counter UAS (CUAS) system to a major US city’s police department. DroneFox is an omnidirectional drone detection, identification, and mitigation system. The system has demonstrated the ability to detect and track drones at ranges over 15 km during customer testing. The system enables the user to assess the threat level, including the drone and pilot’s location and movement in real-time – a massive advantage in a world quickly experiencing a rise in drone threats.
Drones continue to be used in criminal activities, including monitoring police movements during protests, capturing harassing photos of private citizens, and interfering with law enforcement helicopters, such as a near-collision with an LAPD helicopter. Waco, TX, recently saw a string of robberies that began with burglars using drones to spy on vacant homes before stealing over $200,000 in cash and valuables. As consumer drones become more accessible, the need for counter-drone technology becomes imperative. DroneFox
“Our goal is to even the playing field. Drones have an amazing capability for good,
This DroneFox contract is one of many, as more organizations seek to utilize WhiteFox products and services as their trusted choice in counter-drone technology.
About WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Inc.: Headquartered in California, WhiteFox’s mission is to keep the sky open for responsible pilots by creating solutions that advance drone technology for a better world. As a global leader in pioneering the safe integration of drones into society and offering worldwide drone airspace security solutions, WhiteFox is securing trusted autonomy through transparency and accountability in our skies.
By PRESS
A team led by University of Maryland UAS Test Site Director Matt Scassero and University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) transpant surgeon Joseph Scalea has been named the 2021 Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) Golden Hour Award, the organization announced Tuesday (March 9). The award recognizes the efforts of an individual, group, or organization that, through a particular activity or contributions over time, has advanced the use of helicopters or UAS aircraft in the vital mission of air medical transport.
On the night of April 19, 2019, 44-year-old nursing assistant Trina Glispy was being prepped for kidney transplant surgery at UMMC. When she’d first learned she had a match—after eight years of waiting—she’d been offered a very special opportunity: the kidney could be delivered to the hospital by drone, a medical first that would pave the way for faster organ delivery. Excited by the chance to make a difference, Glispy agreed to the delivery option.
Now, as Glispy prepared for the surgery, UMD UAS Test Site pilots and engineers awaited the arrival of the kidney from the Living Legacy Foundation, Maryland’s organ procurement organization. Once secured, the kidney was launched in a custom UAS, complete with real-time monitoring equipment.
The drone flew 2.8 miles in 9.52 minutes at 300 ft. to the rooftop helipad at UMMC, faster than a car could have made the trip in Baltimore traffic. It landed smoothly with all organ-monitor readings in the green. The kidney was soon on its way to the operating room where Glispy waited.
The idea of organ transport by UAS was born two and a half years earlier. Scalea approached Scassero and UMD aerospace engineering chair Norman Wereley after hearing about a fixed-wing drone test his team had conducted carrying medical equipment across the Chesapeake Bay and asked if the same could be done for an organ.
The UMD Test Site team embraced the challenge. Based on a concept developed by Scalea, Scassero and Wereley, the drone was built from scratch with multiple redundancies all the way down to a parachute system that could be deployed either automatically or manually to protect the organ.
The team also designed the first-ever organ-monitoring system. The system tracks the state of the organ in transport in real time—recording and uploading temperature, pressure, and vibrations to the cloud for live monitoring. What’s more, upon landing, medical staff can remove the onboard SD memory card to review the same data.
“Nothing like this had ever been developed before,” Scassero says. “Currently, an organ is tested after harvest and then tested again after arrival to ensure it is still viable. With our monitoring system, we discovered the kidney we flew remained well within the parameters; I’d even say better than it would have in a car or helicopter. The hope is one day this monitoring technology will replace the need for that second biopsy.”
By PRESS
- Airspeeder and Alauda boosted by injection of leading technical and commercial talent
- Additions to team drawn from F1® Management, Boeing, Jaguar Land Rover, Renault F1 McLaren, TWR and Williams Racing
- Judith Griggs, former long standing executive in F1® to join as lead on global rights acquisition and management
- World’s first remotely piloted electric flying car races to take place in 2021
“Our vision is to accelerate a mobility revolution through intense and safe sporting competition. We know that true innovation requires the world’s best talent to deliver. Attracting exceptional minds drawn from the very highest levels of motoracing, automotive engineering, aerospace and the rapidly emerging eVTOL space will add to an extraordinarily capable team of senior engineers and technical experts that have just delivered the world’s first fully-functional remotely piloted electric flying racing car. This injection of technical and commercial capability will play a pivotal role as we build towards historic first un-crewed races in 2021 and the world’s first crewed electric flying car GPs in the years to follow.”
Matthew Pearson, Founder, Airspeeder and Alauda
Airspeeder, the world’s first racing series for flying electric cars, has significantly strengthened its global technical, engineering and sports rights leadership teams through key hires across all disciplines of the company’s growing operation.
The performance eVTOL engineering company Alauda, sister-company to Airspeeder, is the manufacturer of the vehicles that will race in the upcoming series. Both company’s operations now span a technical HQ in Adelaide, South Australia, their commercial and development base in the United Kingdom and a third commercial operation in New York, USA.
The key hires are drawn from leading names in motorsport, elite performance automotive engineering and one of the foundational legal and commercial minds that drove Formula 1’s dominance of global broadcast sport in the 1990s and beyond. They strengthen a team that has just successfully completed the development programme for the world’s first fully-functioning remotely piloted electric flying racing car, the Airspeeder Mk3.
This significant injection of talent is drawn from companies including Boeing, Jaguar Land Rover, Renault F1, McLaren, Williams Racing and leading UK eVTOL manufacturer Vertical Airspace. This represents a commitment to blending the very best talent from both the aerospace industries and motorsports to create a new frontier sport and an accelerative presence in the rapidly emerging eVTOL sector.
Judith Griggs will spearhead global rights acquisition and management and the shaping of Airspeeder as a sporting entity. Her legal and commercial background spans more than 27 years in Formula 1®. Brett Hill leads the engineering programme for both the Mk3 and Mk4 Airspeeder craft. Hill joins from Boeing, where he led technical projects and engineering teams on the 747-8, 787 and various military programmes.
Matt Rodgers comes from eVTOL outfit Vertical Airspace as Head of Composites. He is the first key technical hire in the UK and will pioneer a commitment to establishing a much larger development hub in a globally recognised centre of excellence for elite motorsport and aerospace development. Rodgers brings with him senior technical motorsport leadership experience from Williams Racing, Renault F1 and Formula E.
Finally, David Wareing will bring a wealth of experience from hyper-performance and luxury automotive marques and through the development of racing technology at Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) and hypercar vehicle systems at McLaren.
Judith Griggs, Global Rights Acquisition and Management Lead, said:
“The opportunity to help Airspeeder and Alauda shape the world’s first racing series for flying electric cars is irresistible. Airspeeder has the potential to be the most progressive and exciting new entity in sport. It is racing with global vision and authentic technical purpose and I am excited to work with Matt and the team to deliver on this potential through building exceptional relationships with commercial entities and racing bodies.”
Judith Griggs played a pivotal role in the commercial operation of Formula 1® for many years, including serving as CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in Melbourne. That work established the race as a pivotal round for the sport and earned Judith the honour of Australian businesswoman of the year for that role. This success built the foundations for her company, Sports Rights Management, a leader in sports and entertainment rights, media and technology.
Airspeeder stands at the confluence of next generation technology and sporting entertainment. A fundamental pillar of its strategy is to apply the same progressive approach to rights acquisition and management and fan interactivity through broadcast and streaming as with the development of the technology that underpins the sport. Judith will apply her 27 years experience shaping the commerciality and global viewership of F1 to realise the global potential of electric flying car racing.
In addition to this, Judith will work with Founder Matt Pearson and London Based CCO Jack Withinshaw in building commercial relationships and negotiating with host nations, cities and brands in addition to those already established with DHL, money management leader, EQUALS and cyber-security pioneer Acronis and their delivery partner Teknov8.
Brett Hill, Project Manager, said:
“It’s impossible not to be enticed by the technical challenge that comes with taking frontier technology and exploring the limits of performance. Racing accelerates progress and I’m delighted to join Airspeeder in working with an exceptionally talented multi-disciplinary team to drive the development of a truly revolutionary mobility technology.”
Since joining the company, Brett has applied the fastidious approach required for leading-edge aerospace engineering to the technical development of the Mk3 and Mk4 electric flying car programmes. Brett’s aerospace experience, gained at Boeing includes key transferable disciplines including military testing programmes, aerodynamic analysis and structural analysis of advanced composite structures. Across his career at Boeing, Brett worked in not only design and analysis, but advanced production, and he brings a particular focus on ‘design for manufacture’ to the Airspeeder programmes. Brett’s impact in leading a highly-skilled team of specialists across aerodynamic and structural analysis, flight controls and telemetry and production is already being felt as preparations are made for the next phase of development and the first remotely piloted races, set to take place in 2021.
Matt Rodgers, Head of Composites said:
“Britain is the global home of motorsport and I’m very proud to be the first in extending this legacy to an entirely new form of sport and mobility. My career in both Formula 1 and the development of eVTOL passenger craft profoundly shaped my view that racing is the answer to the need for rapid technical development.”
At Airspeeder Matt will lead all aspects of composite design for the craft’s monocoque structural chassis. This will include building a global network of cutting-edge manufacturing partners and building a team of highly skilled technicians as part of the establishment of a UK manufacturing footprint. At its heart Airspeeder is a clean-air sport with a purpose to accelerate a mobility revolution that responds to the global need for a more sustainable future. Matt will therefore take a lead in exploring natural fibre alternatives to further reduce resource consumption.
David Wareing, Systems Engineer said:
“Airspeeder is a global endeavour with roots in my native UK and adopted homeland of South Australia. This is a chance to join some of the most talented minds in their respective fields to genuinely accelerate development of the next great mobility revolution.”
David Wareing will bring a wealth of experience from development of hypercar-performance and luxury automotive vehicles combined with a racing background at Tom Walkinshaw Racing. At Airspeeder David has developed a systems-based approach to powertrain development supporting a multi-layer redundant architecture that maximises performance and availability though the efficient deployment of power supplies, controls and propulsion systems. His extensive experience from racing and performance car engineering brings significant knowhow in using modelling and simulation work to achieve technical objectives of delivery high-performance with safety.
By PRESS
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Chinese drone giant DJI Technology Co Ltd built up such a successful U.S. business over the past decade that it almost drove all competitors out of the market.
Yet its North American operations have been hit by internal ructions in recent weeks and months, with a raft of staff cuts and departures, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees.
The loss of key managers, some of who have joined rivals, has compounded problems caused by U.S. government restrictions on Chinese companies, and raised the once-remote prospect of DJI's dominance being eroded, said four of the people, including two senior executives who were at the company until late 2020
About a third of DJI's 200-strong team in the region was laid off or resigned last year, from offices in Palo Alto, Burbank and New York, according to three former and one current employee.
In February this year, DJI's head of U.S. R&D left and the company laid off the remaining R&D staff, numbering roughly 10 people, at its flagship U.S. research centre in California's Palo Alto, four people said.
DJI, founded and run by billionaire Frank Wang, said it made the difficult decision to reduce staffing in Palo Alto to reflect the company's "evolving needs".
"We thank the affected employees for their contributions and remain committed to our customers and partners," it said, adding that its North American sales were growing strongly.
"Despite misleading claims from competitors, our enterprise customers understand how DJI products provide robust data security. Despite gossip from anonymous sources, DJI is committed to serving the North American market."
It did not comment on the other U.S. staff departures that current and ex-employees spoke of, although it told Reuters last year its global structure was becoming "unwieldy to manage".
DJI, which has become a symbol of Chinese innovation since it was founded in 2006, is one of dozens of companies caught in the crossfire of trade and diplomatic hostilities between Washington and Beijing, like Huawei and Bytedance.
Staff sources and competitors say the company's brand reach, technical know-how, manufacturing might and sales force mean it won't lose its crown anytime soon in the multi-billion-dollar U.S. and global markets for non-military drones.
But a December order adding the company to the U.S. Commerce Department's "Entity List" along with the closure of its R&D operation in California could affect its ability to serve the needs of U.S. customers, according to three former senior executives and two competitors.
The Commerce Department listing, enacted over allegations including DJI enabled "high-technology surveillance", prohibits the company from buying or using U.S. technology or components.
The same month, Romeo Durscher, DJI's U.S.-based head of public safety, who had played a central role in building the company's business in providing drone technology to non-military U.S. government departments and agencies, left his job.
Durscher, a former NASA project manager and an influential figure in the drone industry, now works at Swiss company Auterion, a competitor to DJI.
He said he left DJI because he was disheartened by the staff cuts and what he described as internal power struggles between the U.S. team and its China headquarters. He added that the U.S. reorganisation complicated the task in dealing with the fallout from U.S.-China tensions and winning government business.
"It's not an easy decision to leave the market leader that's really far ahead of everyone else," said Durscher, who joined DJI in 2014. "But those internal battles were distracting from the real purpose and in 2020 it got worse ... we lost tremendous talent at DJI and that's very unfortunate."
U.S. SECURITY CONCERNS
Privately held DJI doesn't publish sales figures. The U.S. Department of Defense estimated the American non-military market was worth $4.2 billion last year. Consultancy DroneAnalyst said DJI controlled almost 90% of the consumer market in North America and over 70% of the industrial market.
The December listing by the Commerce Department, and the prohibition on buying U.S. parts, may impact the firm's mobile apps, web servers and some battery and imaging products, said David Benowitz, head of research at DroneAnalyst and a senior figure with DJI's enterprise team, which works with industrial customers, in Shenzhen before he left last summer.
DJI said in December that the ban would not affect U.S. customers' ability to buy and use its products.
The listing followed other official blows. In October, the U.S. Department of the Interior said it would only buy drones from companies okayed by the Department of Defense, which last August published a list of five approved drone suppliers to the federal government - four American and one French.
DJI said there was no "broad-based U.S. government ban on purchasing DJI drones".
"Congress considered that approach last year and rejected it, because ... such a ban would be challenging for many companies and government bodies that rely on drones," it added.
'WE'RE STILL PRIMITIVE'
Benowitz said persisting U.S.-China tensions and the push by Washington to support DJI's rivals could see the company's North American market share decline. He added that, while the federal government comprised a relatively small part of DJI's business, its restrictions could have a "chilling effect", with other buyers worried about tougher measures in the future.
"We're at a point where there are too many market opportunities for one player to dominate," he said.
Yet he added alternatives to DJI were relative minnows, though both policy support and security concerns over Chinese drones had brought them growth in the last year. Competitors to DJI include France's Parrot and California-based Skydio.
Chris Roberts, CEO of Parrot Inc, Americas, said 2020 had been a significant year for the company in the United States, having been named an approved supplier by the Defense Department and won business from emergency services and security agencies.
Skydio announced $170 million in D-round funding last week and said it had a valuation of over $1 billion.
"DJI makes good hardware but we are still very early in the market, and very primitive compared to what ultimately should exist," Skydio CEO Adam Bry told Reuters.
PHANTOM DRONE FLEETS
When Durscher joined DJI back in 2014, the company's Phantom series was transforming drones from a niche hobby to a mainstream gadget. He said he was particularly drawn by the chance to bring drones into the kit of fire and rescue departments.
He said the technological advances of smaller rivals in the last year were tempting for some public-safety agencies, who might say "let's go with this drone now so we don't have to deal with the data security".
He added that change could come as government departments and companies looked to replace drone fleets that are nearing the end of their life cycles.
A fleet is typically expected to last three to four years, according to Benowitz.
Durscher and several other staff compared DJI's internal rivalry over projects to "Game of Thrones", the TV series where rival factions vie for power. He said this resulted in a rotating door of Shenzhen bosses, and that he reported to 12 different managers in his six years at the company.
Durscher's departure from DJI followed those of other key executives in North America last year, including director of business development Cynthia Huang.
Huang, who now works with Durscher at Auterion, said she became increasingly frustrated because she felt DJI wasn't able to meet all the growing demands of the enterprise market. Additionally, she said, job cuts over the past year added to the reasons she decided to leave. The losses in Palo Alto, Burbank and New York had followed cuts made to DJI's global sales and marketing teams, which Reuters reported in August.
"Some of the people that we lost in those layoffs, it didn't make sense," said Huang, who was hired in 2018 to take the lead in building DJI's enterprise business in North America. "The continued exodus of talent was discouraging."
(Reporting by David Kirton; Additional reporting by Jane Lee in San Francisco, Alexandra Alper and David Shephardson in Washington; Editing by Pravin Char)
Montréal, 1 March 2021 – During its ongoing 222nd Session, the ICAO Council today adopted new and amended Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) driving important progress on the international safety and interoperability of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
The new provisions will become effective on 12 July 2021, and applicable as of 26 November 2026. The most important pertain to Annex 8 — Airworthiness of Aircraft to the Chicago Convention, and cover certification requirements for remotely piloted aeroplanes and helicopters, in addition to the remote pilot stations (RPS) they are operated from.
“These Annex 8 provisions will now importantly serve as the foundational international SARPs for issuing Type Certificates and Certificates of Airworthiness for remotely piloted aircraft and all of their required components,” commented ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano.
“This provides a baseline of requirements which countries can employ in the near term to certify RPAS for international cargo operations or aerial work. Future work will address passenger-carrying RPA, as well as more advanced capabilities being anticipated for future urban air mobility.”
The new Annex 8 SARPs were complemented by new provisions adopted by the Council on C2 Links, the data links that connect the RPA and RPS, in Annex 10 to the Convention, on Aeronautical Telecommunications. They include Amendment 90 to Volume V, which addresses spectrum allocations that may be used for RPAS C2 Links, and the adoption of an entirely new Volume VI, on RPAS C2 Link communications systems and procedures.
A second package of C2 Link SARPs, which is currently being developed by ICAO’s RPAS Panel, will address details for interoperability, spectrum utilization, and compatibility with existing communications and navigation systems, including the sharing of the proposed frequency bands.
“As the applicability dates of RPAS-related provisions are being aligned to November 2026, bringing forward Annex 8 ahead of amendments to other Annexes permits governments and industry to account for the longer lead time required for airworthiness provisions, as provided for in Article 41 of the Convention,” Mr. Sciacchitano emphasized. “In the meantime, work through ICAO will continue on flight operations, detect and avoid, air traffic management, further C2 Link requirements, and the remainder of the regulatory framework.”
The latest RPAS progress required minor modifications to Annexes 1 (Personnel Licensing) and 2 (Rules of the Air) of the Convention, and will eventually be supported by more substantial Annex 2 changes already in development. Previous Annex 1 Standards adopted by the Council in 2018 introduced a regulatory structure for the issuance of remote pilot licences for applicability as of November 2022.
As this extensive work continues through ICAO, it is presumed that all of the 19 Annexes to the Chicago Convention will eventually require either significant or minor modification to achieve the safe, secure and efficient integration of RPAS into current global aviation frameworks.
Turkish Aerospace Industries delivered the T129 Tactical Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter to the General Directorate of Security, and exhibited the electric-powered T629 helicopter for the first time.
On Thursday, the preliminary prototype of Turkey’s unmanned and electric version of the T629 helicopter was displayed for the first time.
The T629 attack helicopter, which has been under development by the Turkish Aviation and Space Industry (TAI), was exhibited during a ceremony in which Turkey’s General Directorate of Security also received its first T129 Tactical Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter (ATAK).
Turkey unveiled its unmanned attack helicopter T629.
— Kasım İleri (@kasimileri_) February 25, 2021
The 6-ton chopper is a niche between the light attack T129 ATAK and the heavy ATAK 2
The T629 helicopter project has been underway since 2017, and the TAI began assembling the first flight model of the chopper in 2019. It is expected to make its debut soon - this will bring new technologies to the Turkish aerospace sector. It will be unmanned and will have an electric power group.
Although there were no technical details given during the ceremony, it was announced previously that the T629 will weigh 6 tonnes and be equipped with 70 mm unguided missiles and L-UMTAS anti-tank missiles.
During Thursday’s ceremony, TAI’s Chairperson, Temel Kotil, said that they are proud to deliver the T129 ATAK helicopter to the General Directorate of Security.
The upgraded version of the chopper is currently in the inventory of Land Forces Command and the recently delivered helicopter to the General Directorate of Security is the new ATAK Phase-2 configuration. It is equipped with laser and radar warning systems.
Calling the T129 ATAK the best performing helicopter in high altitude, Kotil said that its engine power is not impaired due to temperature or altitude, and can provide efficient service in Turkey and its surrounding geography.
Kotil also stated that two more ATAK helicopters are set to be delivered to the General Directorate of Security in March.
How the choppers will help Turkish security forces
During the ceremony, Mehmet Aktas, head of the General Directorate of Security, said that the directorate was provided for the first time with an armed reconnaissance and tactical surveillance helicopter.
“With the increase in the number and quality of our aircraft that we add to our inventory, we gain more effective and rapid action not only in the fight against terrorism but also in all kinds of police operational activities, especially against narcotic crimes, organised crime organisations, in combating human trafficking and establishing traffic order,” Aktas said.
Ismail Demir, chairperson of the Defense Industries Presidency (SBB), said: “We are proud and happy to come together for the delivery of the helicopter that will add further strength to police forces.”
“The T-129 helicopters delivered to date have played an active role in security forces' operations and that they worked as a force multiplier due to their capabilities,” he added.
Talking about the recent configurations and improvements on ATAK, Demir said that electronic warfare (EW) and countermeasure capabilities reached their maximum level with the Phase-2 configuration.
“Within the scope of the ATAK project, which is a very important milestone in the establishment of the helicopter industry infrastructure in our country, much national equipment and weapons systems are produced domestically.”
Demir also stressed the goal is not only to build platforms but to also domestically develop their subsystems, particularly critical components, and that the TS-1400 engine tailored for helicopters, the development of which is ongoing, is one of the important steps in this regard.
ATAK-2, Hurjet and TF-X National Combat Aircraft
Providing further details about TAI’s other ongoing projects, Kotil said the ATAK-2 helicopter will make its maiden flight in 2023 and the Hurjet, an advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft, is due at the end of 2022.
Another planned to take off in 2023 is the TF-X National Combat Aircraft. It is set to combine the best of a stealth air-superiority fighter with additional ground attack capabilities and an impressive array of sensors, cutting-edge radar, networked drone control and hypersonic missile capacity.
By : TRT World
Skydio, the leading U.S. drone manufacturer and world leader in autonomous flight, today announced it has raised $170 million in Series D funding led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Growth Fund.
This brings total funding raised to over $340 million with a current valuation of over $1 billion. Andreessen Horowitz, which also led the Series A, is joined in this round by existing investors Linse Capital, Next47, and IVP, along with new investor UP.Partners. With the additional capital raised, Skydio will further accelerate product development and global sales expansion to support the rapidly growing demand for its autonomous drone solutions.
“The initial wave of hype around enterprise drones passed many years ago, but we’re now seeing these markets really mature. Autonomy is the key for drones to reach scale, and Skydio has established themselves as the defining company in this category. We’re excited to continue to invest in this magical combination of breakthrough technology, rapid growth, and an incredible team in a market that’s going through an inflection point,” said David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
“From the moment we met the Skydio team and saw the S2 in action, we knew this was going to be a world-changing company. Think of all the dangerous jobs requiring ladders, harnesses, or helicopters to do work that can now, with Skydio, be done much more safely and efficiently. Autonomous drones will enable our aging infrastructure to be monitored much more effectively and our first responders will have greater situational awareness than ever before,” said Bastiaan Janmaat, Partner at Linse Capital.
Over the last year Skydio has made significant progress in every market category. From the continued adoption of Skydio 2 by consumers, to the largest ever enterprise drone deal with EagleView for residential roof inspection, to the downselection for final integration as part of the Army Short Range Reconnaissance Program, Skydio has been chosen in a myriad of deployments across construction companies, departments of transportation, energy utilities, and police departments. Leading enterprises and public sector organizations, including Jacobs Engineering, Sundt Construction, the USCivil Air Patrol, Ohio Department of Transportation, North Carolina Department of Transportation, Boston PD, and Sacramento Metro Fire Department, rely on Skydio autonomous drones for infrastructure inspection, search and rescue, situational awareness, emergency response and many more use cases.
“This is an important milestone for us as a company, but also for the U.S. drone industry. Together with our customers, we’re proving that a U.S. company can lead the way in this industry through AI and autonomy. Things are already pretty exciting, but we are just scratching the surface of what autonomous drones can do,” said Adam Bry, CEO and Co-founder of Skydio.
Skydio is founded on the premise that autonomy is the key ingredient to unlock the full potential of drones. By transforming drones into intelligent devices that can dynamically understand and adjust to the environment in which they are operated, Skydio enables radically simpler flights and makes missions once considered impossible possible.
The introduction of the Skydio 2 in 2019 marked the beginning of an ambitious innovation agenda to take drones into the age of software and AI-based autonomy that will further accelerate in 2021 with the upcoming release of the new Skydio X2, recipient of CES’s 2021 Best of Innovation Award, and Skydio 3D Scan, the first-of-its-kind adaptive scanning software.
By PRESS
After being the first flying car to get road permission for Europe, PAL-V is now also the first to complete the full certification basis with EASA. Based on PAL-V’s 10 years of test results, EASA specialist teams finalized the requirements for the PAL-V Liberty. The issuance last week, after industry consultation, shows the confidence of the European authorities and the maturity of the design and the company. The final phase is the compliance demonstration before CarFlying becomes reality for PAL-V’s customers.
“Getting a flying car to the market is hard. It takes at least 10 years,” said Robert Dingemanse, PAL-V’s CEO: “Although we are experienced entrepreneurs, we learned that in aviation everything is exponentially stricter. Next to the aircraft, all aspects of the organization, including suppliers and maintenance parties must be certified.”
In 2009 PAL-V agreed with EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) to use the Certification Specifications for Small Rotorcraft, CS-27, as a starting point for the development of the Certification Basis. PAL-V worked together with EASA to amend the complete list of over 1,500 criteria to make it applicable for the PAL-V. The list was published last year for review by industry experts and the final version was published last week.
CTO, Mike Stekelenburg: “Safety is key in developing the Liberty, we are privileged to work with top experts of EASA. Their high safety standards also allow the Liberty to be used professionally. From the start, we built the Liberty to comply with existing regulations. This strategy provides the fastest route to market.”
PAL-V Head of Airworthiness, Cees Borsboom: “I’m proud to see the results of our work. We can now speed up the completion of the compliance demonstration phase. It’s hard to grasp the amount of work required to certify an aircraft. The sign-off of 1,500 requirements already in 2012, before starting manned test flights, was the beginning. The development of the requirements started in 2009. More than 10 years of analysis, test data, flight tests, and drive tests, led to this important milestone. In parallel, we already started compliance demonstration to obtain the type certificate, which will be followed by delivery of vehicles to our customers.”
The EASA type certificate is valid for Europe and is also accepted in 80% of the world market, including the US and China.
By PRESS