Madrid, 18th April 2008 – Only weeks after the successful trials on Frigates, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 continued to prove its naval capabilities on 14th April south of Gran Canaria from a vessel of the Spanish Guardia Civil. The CAMCOPTER® S-100 demonstrated its outstanding capabilities as well as its naval versatility for the first time from a small vessel. The Rio Miño of the Spanish Guardia Civil is only 51 meters long, has a gross weight of 605 tons and is based in the harbour of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. Having been converted from a tuna trawler into one of the largest patrol vessels of the Guardia Civil, its mission is to patrol the coasts of the Canary Islands and nearby Africa.

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SAN DIEGO – 15 April 2008 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical reconnaissance radars, today announced the successful flight of the first Sky Warrior® Block 1 aircraft for the U.S. Army’s Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) UAS Program on March 31 from the company’s El Mirage Flight Operations Facility in Adelanto, Calif. “Army tactical commanders at the division level and below are now one step closer to having the RSTA [Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition] information they need to offer increased protection to their troops on the ground,” said Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., president, Aircraft Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. “This milestone event was a collaborative effort between GA-ASI and our PM-UAS customer. Jointly, this team planned and executed a methodical approach to first flight success.”

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Vienna, 14th April 2008 – On 16th March the CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAV System successfully completed flights from a Type 21 Frigate of the Pakistan Navy in the Arabian Sea. As part of a series of shipboard flight tests, Schiebel’s unmanned VTOL UAV System CAMCOPTER® S-100 recently again demonstrated its unrivalled shipboard launch and recovery capabilities from a Pakistan Navy Frigate. Launch was made from the heli deck of the Type 21 Frigate at the designated trial site off the coast of Karachi. Equipped with a day/night-capable EOIR gimbal, the S-100’s takeoffs were done both manually and autonomously from the deck. Landings generally are flown autonomously to a waypoint relative to the ship and at a distance of about 50 feet above and 100 feet behind the ship’s heli deck. From this waypoint the final approach and landings were executed.

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The Federation of Russia demonstrated for the first time this week a full-size model and accompanying ground equipment for its new Dan-BARUK unmanned aerial vehicle vehicle. Designed for reconnaissance and strike, the system comprises a vehicle along with mobile ground control, launch and repair elements. Designers intend the system to perform battlefield reconnaissance, target spotting and strike. Strikes against targets spotted during reconnaissance may be executed by either the drone or other weapons after the UAV transmits information via highly-secure communications.

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The world’s largest democracy made plans last month to cooperate with the Middle East’s only democracy, announcing the joint development of an unmanned helicopter. India and Israel say their new helicopter would be capable of operating in severe weather conditions, according to media reports. Unlike the unmanned helicopter first developed by the United States in the 1950s, this drone would employ automated takeoff and landing systems, useful for land and sea.

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AAAA ANNUAL CONVENTION, NATIONAL HARBOR – 7 April 2008 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical reconnaissance radars, today announced that a U.S. Army UAS has reached a record 10,000 flight hours on a single aircraft. The milestone was achieved by two different Army I-GNAT® ER aircraft, AI-001 and AI-1005, within days of each other while performing combat missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “The I-GNAT ER/Sky Warrior® Alpha aircraft that we deliver to the U.S. Army offer tremendous support to combat forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis and continue to boast the highest full-mission capability rates of any operational Army UAS,” said Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., president, Aircraft Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. “I don’t believe that any other all-electric, composite aircraft can lay claim to this remarkable achievement. This is truly a testament to the reliability and durability, as well as the operational flexibility, of this UAS series.”

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Starting Thursday, April 24, visitors to the National Air and Space Museum will get a glimpse of six aircraft representing a cross section of modern unmanned flight technology in the new “Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” exhibition. UAVs are used by all four military branches for missions ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to attack; and each branch is represented in this exhibit: Predator, DarkStar, X-45A (Air Force); Shadow 200 (Army); Dragon Eye (Marine Corps); and Pioneer (Navy). Likewise, a wide variety of technologies are on display: jets, piston-driven props and electric motors for propulsion; and surveillance radars, precision bombs and missiles for combat use.

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MONROVIA, Calif., April 4, 2008 – AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ: AVAV), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems and efficient electric energy systems, has been awarded three utility patents and six design patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) along with 12 European design patents relating to new approaches to renewable energy generation on buildings. The USPTO awarded the patents relating to the incorporation of AV’s Architectural Wind® system on rooftops. The utility patents address a method for identifying the specific area over the edge of certain building types where the wind accelerates, and harnessing the energy in this acceleration zone through careful placement of a specially designed wind turbine to maximize electricity generation. These patents also cover an approach to enabling modular, rapid installation of these systems on the building to minimize time and cost.

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Northrop Grumman Corporation’s RQ-4 Global Hawk set an endurance record for a full-scale, operational unmanned aircraft on Saturday, March 22, 2008, when it completed a flight of 33.1 hours at altitudes up to 60,000 feet over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. “It was a picture perfect flight, landing flawlessly on centerline with enough fuel remaining to continue for two more hours,” said Jerry Madigan, Northrop Grumman vice president of high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) systems. “The pilots and ground crew, as well as Edwards Air Force Base senior leadership were very impressed with the Global Hawk’s performance, meeting or exceeding every flight objective.”

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The U.S. government granted an inventor in Colorado a patent for a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle capable of persistent and maneuverable flight. Inventor Adam Ning Chu of Colorado Springs, Colo., designed an inflatable but aerodynamic saucer-shaped vehicle that carries below it a gondola containing a motor, batteries, sensors and control mechanisms. Flying above 100,000 feet, the hybrid UAV would use a propulsion system to lift into high-altitude winds, thereby rising above the buoyancy of blimps and other inflatable aircrafts. The vehicle would steer itself by rotating its gondola, pitching down and thrusting forward when accelerating.

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The Boeing Company, in partnership with ImSAR and Insitu Inc., has successfully flight-tested NanoSAR, the world’s smallest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), aboard the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft. During the 1.5-hour flight on Jan. 7 at the Boardman, Ore., test range, ScanEagle, with ImSAR’s NanoSAR payload installed, completed several passes over the target area at various altitudes and ranges. The targets included vehicles, structures and corner reflectors. Data collection onboard the ScanEagle worked as planned, and SAR imagery was later created on the ground. The next step in flight testing will be to create imagery aboard the UA in real time. The NanoSAR is a 2-pound system approximately the size of a shoebox. The weight of standard SARs ranges from 50 to 200 pounds.

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The Pentagon says they killed more than four dozen al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan with air strikes delivered from Predator drones during the past two months. A senior Bush administration official told media this week that the military decided to intensify its air strikes ahead of political changes in Pakistan that may reduce opportunities to fly missions in that country. In an effort to “shake the tree,” the military employed Predator air strikes to dislodge terrorist operatives from hiding, providing U.S. intelligence services the opportunity to glean new information from local sources on the ground there.

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Flying a Heron unmanned aerial vehicle rented from Israel, the Turkish military launched a major operation Wednesday after spotting militants in a mountainous region near the Iraq border. After spotting the group in Mt. Cudi in Sirnak, the Turks began shelling the area, deploying tanks and ammunition to units along the border during an ongoing operation that also covered the areas of Mt. Herekol and Mt. Kato. By Thursday, the Turkish military had sent 10 military trucks carrying commandos along with 10 private trucks loaded with supplies.

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Raytheon Co. says it is teaming with Swift Engineering to offer a system based on Swift’s KillerBee unmanned aircraft system for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The company said it’s bidding for the Navy and Marine Corps’ Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems/Tier II competition, which is expected to begin this spring. KillerBee is a blended-wing vehicle, which Raytheon says sets it apart from similar-sized UAS. Company officials say it’s a flexibile and modular platform.

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Researchers from Germany and the United Kingdom collaborated to complete the first flights of unmanned aerial vehicles over Antarctica. The Technical University of Branschweig and British Antarctic Survey completed 20 flights between October and December, including four flights over the Weddell Sea—without losing a craft. The scientists outfitted the drones with equipment to record the exchange of heat between the atmosphere and the ice of the frozen Weddell Sea. In the winter, the bright white ice reflects heat back toward the atmosphere, helping to cool the planet. Climatologists began to study the region to better understand the interplay between sea ice and climate change.

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ST. LOUIS, March 18, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], in partnership with ImSAR and Insitu Inc., has successfully flight-tested NanoSAR, the world’s smallest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), aboard the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft (UA). During the 1.5-hour flight on Jan. 7 at the Boardman, Ore. test range, ScanEagle, with ImSAR’s NanoSAR payload installed, completed several passes over the target area at various altitudes and ranges. The targets included vehicles, structures and corner reflectors. Data collection onboard the ScanEagle worked as planned, and SAR imagery was later created on the ground. The next step in flight testing will be to create imagery aboard the UA in real time. The NanoSAR is a 2-pound system approximately the size of a shoebox. The weight of standard SARs ranges from 50 to 200 pounds.

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On March 4, 2008 the UVS International General Assembly in Paris, France unanimously elected in the following 15 persons to constitute its new Board of Directors:

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ST. LOUIS, March 10, 2008 — The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have demonstrated successfully that ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles modified to look for biological warfare agents can effectively intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents. Tests also show that the UAVs can successfully collect airborne material and data from a target site that can help U.S. forces combat the threat from biological agents and minimize the danger to friendly forces and civilians. From early November 2007 to the end of January 2008, Boeing conducted developmental, shipboard integration and operational flight tests of the Biological Combat Assessment System (BCAS) as part of the BCAS Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program in support of DTRA.

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (March 03, 2008) - Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE: COL) today announced its intent to acquire Athena Technologies, Inc., a privately held company that develops and provides flight control and navigation solutions primarily to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market segment. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “Athena Technologies’ proven track record in creating leading navigation and control solutions for UAVs, combined with our existing capabilities, provides Rockwell Collins with exciting, new growth opportunities,” said Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Clay Jones. “We look forward to integrating our combined capabilities to bring new control solutions to both military and commercial market segments.”

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SAN DIEGO, Feb. 29, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — The RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS), built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first flight on Feb. 28, 2008. On that date in 1998 the Global Hawk made history when it flew for one hour over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and climbed to an altitude of 32,000 feet. “Today, this high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) system has logged more than 20,000 total program flight hours, of which more than 15,000 hours were flown in support of the global war on terrorism (GWOT),” said Jerry Madigan, Northrop Grumman vice president of HALE systems. “Its range, endurance and multi-sensor technology capabilities make it an ideal system to support homeland security objectives.”

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Apache pilots can now receive video from unmanned systems for advance targeting information without entering harm’s way. Demonstrated for the first time today at the Army Aviation Senior Leaders Conference, this effort is part of a rapid acquisition program to increase interoperability. Live footage from a Shadow Unmanned Aircraft System was streamed to the cockpit of an Apache helicopter through Video from UAS for Interoperability Teaming Level II or VUIT-2. “This is a big step for manned-unmanned teaming,” said Col. Derek Paquette, Apache project manager. “Ultimately, VUIT-2 will increase the survivability and lethality of the Apache Longbow aircraft by providing aircrews and ground commanders increased situational awareness, decreased sensor to shooter timelines and increased reaction time.”

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Warton, UK – BAE Systems has begun assembly of the first major components of Taranis, the £124m Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that will help inform the UK MoD on the balance and capability of its ‘future force mix’. Specialist jigs have now been set up in a dedicated assembly hangar at BAE Systems which will be home to Taranis until it prepares for its first test flights in 2010. Chris Allam, Project Director for Taranis at BAE Systems, said: “The start of assembly on Taranis is significant. It is the first time the UK has built an unmanned air vehicle on this scale with this level of capability. The teamwork around the Programme to date has been first class. This first phase of assembly is scheduled to take us through to the 4th quarter of 2008 before we move in to final assembly when we equip and test the aircraft prior to ground trials at Warton during 2009. Alongside this, our colleagues at Rolls-Royce will also be working on engine bench testing to confirm the performance of the propulsion system.”

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Saab is part of the Air4All consortium in Europe. Recently, the consortium received an order for a detailed action plan for how Unmanned Vehicles (UAVs) are to be able to fly in civil airspace at the latest 2015. The project “UAV Insertion into General Air Traffic” is strategically important in the European collaboration within aviation. The Air4All consortium largely contains all major aviation companies in Europe and made a joint response to the request for quote from European Defence Agency, EDA. The consortium won the order and the contract with EDA was signed at the beginning of January.

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An early producer of unmanned aerial vehicles in the 1970s, the Russian Federation says it would begin making drones now for military and commercial purposes. During the next few months, the federal government plans to organize its UAV efforts, creating an aviation monitoring system to track such aircraft, according to Izvestia, a Russian publication.

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On March 4, starting at 11:30 a.m., a panel discussion and Q&A session on the topic of Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) Access to the National Airspace, Current and Future, will be held at NASA Ames Research Laboratory, Mountain View, CA. The meeting is being arranged by the Silicon Valley Chapter of AUVSI with co-sponsorship by the IEEE-RAS, AIAA and AOC.

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