Industry | UAV |
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Founded | 2006 |
Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment (ASTRAEA) is a project to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to fly in civil airspace. [1] [2] Both UK government agencies and companies such as AOS Group, BAE Systems, Qinetiq, Rolls-Royce plc, Cassidian, Cobham plc, EADS and Thales UK are involved. [1] The project began in 2006. [3] [1] [4]
Currently, UAVs can only operate in UK airspace under restricted conditions. [3]
ParcAberporth has a centre dedicated to ASTRAEA. [4] Permission has been sought for a permanent segregated airspace around ParcAberporth for testing UAVs over land. [5] [6]
Concerns about safety, privacy and noise were raised during consultative sessions. [7]
Test flights were performed, between May and September 2012, over the Irish Sea. [2] A Jetstream aircraft is being as a UAV and a Piper Seneca as an 'intruder' to test the sense and avoid systems. [2] [1]
In April 2013 the first unmanned flight over British airspace was successfully completed when BAE Systems flew a Jetstream 31 from Warton Aerodrome, on the Fylde near Preston to Inverness in Scotland. The aircraft, described as the "flying test bed" was controlled by a pilot at Warton using advanced sensors and on-board robotic systems. The flight was not strictly "unmanned" as two pilots flew in the cockpit as a precaution but they were required only to monitor the flight and not to actively engage in any flying. ASTRAEA programme director Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal said: the work being done "will likely impact all of us in the next five, 10, 20 years as unmanned aircraft and associated technology develop and become a part of everyday life". The governments business and energy minister Michael Fallon said: "We welcome this pioneering flight at the end of the ASTRAEA programme. ASTRAEA has made significant achievements, placing the UK industry in a good position globally on unmanned aircraft and the development of regulations for their civil use." [8]
The RQ-3 DarkStar is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Its first flight was on March 29, 1996. The Department of Defense terminated DarkStar in January 1999, after determining the UAV was not aerodynamically stable and was not meeting cost and performance objectives.
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, remotely-piloted surveillance aircraft of the 1990s–2020s. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical, and known as Tier II+ during development. The RQ-4 provides a broad overview and systematic surveillance using high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 km2) of terrain per day, an area the size of South Korea or Iceland.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications. These include aerial photography, precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring, river monitoring, environmental monitoring, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling, product deliveries, entertainment, and drone racing.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is an American high-altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under development for the United States Navy as a surveillance aircraft. Together with its associated ground control station, it is an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Developed under the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, the system is intended to provide real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, conduct search and rescue missions, and to complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
The Thales Watchkeeper WK450 is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for all weather, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) use by the British Army. It is provided under an £800 million contract with UAS Tactical Systems (U-TacS), a joint venture of Elbit and Thales UK, and is based on Elbit's Hermes 450.
The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed for aircraft carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and subsequently became part of the United States Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B is a tailless jet-powered blended-wing-body aircraft capable of semi-autonomous operation and aerial refueling.
Aberporth Airport is situated southwest of Aberporth, Ceredigion, Wales. The airport is being developed as West Wales Airport for domestic flights. It is also developing as a centre for the deployment of civil and military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), known as 'drones'. The airport underwent major improvements in 2008 which extended the length of the runway from 945 to 1,257 m.
The EADS Barracuda is a jet powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) currently under development by EADS, intended for the role of aerial reconnaissance and also combat. The aircraft is a joint venture between Germany and Spain.
The BAE Systems Skylynx II is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed to support US Marine Corps Tier II regiment-level reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition missions. The aircraft flew its maiden flight on August 9, 2006, at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Yuma, Arizona. The Skylynx II is equipped with an electro-optical (EO) and infrared imaging system, and during test flights it was able to locate and track human and vehicle targets. Powered by a UAV Engines UEL-741 engine driving a single propeller, the aircraft is designed to be launched without a runway, and to carry payloads of up to 70 lb (32 kg).
Warton Aerodrome is located in Warton village on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. The aerodrome is 6 NM west of Preston, Lancashire, UK.
The BAE Systems Taranis is a British demonstrator programme for unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) technology, under development primarily by the defence contractor BAE Systems Military Air & Information. The aircraft, which is named after the Celtic god of thunder Taranis, first flew in 2013. An unmanned warplane, the Taranis is designed to fly intercontinental missions, and would carry a variety of weapons, enabling it to attack both aerial and ground targets. It uses stealth technology, giving it a low radar profile, and is controllable via satellite link from anywhere on Earth.
ParcAberporth is a technology park created on what was Royal Air Force (RAF) station Aberporth, near the village of that name in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The station was one of two local sites that had been used as a site for a missile range that stretched out for some miles into the nearby Cardigan Bay. This Danger Area still exists and is known as Danger Area D201. Parc Aberporth is the UK's purpose-built testing site for unmanned aircraft. The Parc Aberporth centre was specially developed to test and trial unmanned aircraft, for both military and civilian use.
The Zephyr is a series of high-altitude platform station aircraft produced by Airbus. They were designed originally by QinetiQ, a commercial offshoot of the UK Ministry of Defence. In July 2010, the Zephyr 7 flew during 14 days. In March 2013, the project was sold to Airbus Defence and Space. In the summer of 2022, the Zephyr 8/S flew during 64 days.
The BAE Systems HERTI is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the British company BAE Systems. HERTI stands for "High Endurance Rapid Technology Insertion" and was developed in Warton, United Kingdom. The HERTI airframe is based on the J-6 Fregata motor glider designed by Jaroslaw Janowski of J&AS Aero Design in Poland. Its first flight was in December 2004 at the Australian Woomera test range where much of the test flight programme has been undertaken. HERTI was also the first UAV to fly in the UK with the flight being certified by the Civil Aviation Authority.
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed 116,000 people.
The BAE Systems Mantis Unmanned Autonomous System Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator is a British demonstrator programme for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology. The Mantis is a twin-engine, turboprop-powered UCAV with a wingspan of approximately 22 m, broadly comparable to the MQ-9 Reaper. Other partners involved in Phase 1 of the Mantis programme include the Ministry of Defence, Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ, GE Aviation, L-3 Wescam, Meggitt and Lola.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Association (UAVS) was created in 1998 when key individuals from Matra-BAe Dynamics-Alenia (MBDA), British Aerospace (BAe) and Remote Services recognised that the United Kingdom UAV industry did not have a collective voice or representative in industry's interface with government and the regulators.
The Demon is an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed and manufactured by British defence conglomerate BAE Systems. It has been referred to as being the world's first "flapless" aircraft.
The BAE Systems/Dassault Telemos was an unmanned military aircraft being jointly developed by BAE Systems and Dassault.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, is generally regulated by the civil aviation authority of the country. Nevertheless, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) began exploring the use of drone technology as far back as 2005, which resulted in a 2011 report. France was among the first countries to set a national framework based on this report and larger aviation bodies such as the FAA and the EASA quickly followed suit, which eventually led to influential regulations such as Part 107 and Regulation (EU) 2019/947. As of January 2022, several countries are working on new regulations, ranging from BVLOS operations to UTM activities, which include the US, the EU, India, South Korea, Japan, and Australia among others.