A QinetiQ subsidiary has received a $41 million contract from General Atomics to deliver hardware and software for the electromagnetic aircraft launch system and advanced arresting gear of the U.S. Navy‘s future aircraft carrier. QinetiQ North America will update, procure, assemble and test launch and arresting control hardware for integration into USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) under the contract, the […] More

The state of North Dakota and Harris have entered into a partnership agreement to develop a platform that will work to support beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations for unmanned aircraft systems. Harris said Tuesday it received a two-year grant from the North Dakota Centers of Excellence Commission to create aviation-grade network services for UAS BVLOS operations. The company will also work with the […] More

A Visiongain report has estimated worldwide revenue for military unmanned aerial vehicles reached $7.4 billion last year. The company’s Military UAV Market Report 2016-2026 report  also covers analyses and forecasts on high-altitude long endurance UAVs, medium-altitude long-endurance drones and three other military UAV submarkets over the next 10 years in eight countries that include the U.S., Australia and Japan, ReportBuyer […] More

The National Defense Industrial Association hosted a meeting on Nov. 14 to allow representatives from companies to present their commercial off-the-shelf technology platforms to Will Roper, director of the Defense Department’s strategic capabilities office, the National Defense magazine reported Monday. Sandra I. Erwin writes executives from Allegheny Technologies, Battelle, Creative Micro Systems, Endeavor Robotics, General Atomics, […] More

Susan Eustis, lead author of the “Military Drones: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts Worldwide, 2016 to 2022” report, has said the global market for military drones will increase to $8.6 billion by 2022 from $4.4 billion recorded in 2015, Inside Unmanned Systems reported Monday. Eustis told the publication the U.S. accounts for 73 percent of the worldwide […] More

The Defense Department has expressed support to proposals by Lockheed Martin and Boeing to produce their respective F-16 and F-18 fighter jets in India as part of the Make in India program, Hindustan Times reported Monday. Shishir Gupta writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter relayed DoD’s support to the proposals to Manohar Parrikar, India’s defense minister, during the […] More

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker has said the military branch and companies vying for the MQ-25A Stingray carrier unmanned aerial vehicle program are faced with the challenge of combining tanker and ISR features into one UAV platform, USNI News reported Thursday. Sam LaGrone writes Shoemaker, commander of Naval Air Forces, said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that an ideal ISR […] More

The U.S. Air Force has designated the U.S. Navy’s first carrier unmanned aircraft vehicle as MQ-25A Stingray, USNI News reported Friday. Sam LaGrone writes the Navy received the official name and designation for the UAV through a July 11 memo issued by the Air Force Materiel Command. The Air Force assigned the name MQ-25A Stingray, formerly […] More

The U.K. government plans to build its own training center for General Atomics-built unmanned air vehicles as space for allies at the U.S. Air Force’s UAV training school continues to shrink, Flightglobal reported Thursday. Beth Stevenson writes the Air Force began to ration the slots for foreign partners at the Holloman Air Force Base in […] More

A Govini report indicates the U.S. military unmanned aerial systems market has experienced a compound annual growth rate of about 6 percent over the past five fiscal years, Defense News reported Wednesday. Lara Seligman writes the research firm observed the Defense Department‘s strategic pivot  to the Asia-Pacific region and efforts to implement a third offset strategy have […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a series of phase one contracts to four companies for proposals to develop unmanned air systems that can be recovered while in flight and are reusable. DARPA said Thursday it selected General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems unit, Lockheed Martin, Dynetics and Composite Engineering to develop launch and recovery techniques, airframe designs, digital […] More

A Custom Market Insights report predicts the military unmanned aerial vehicle market will reach $11 billion in value by 2021 from $3 billion in 2014. “Quantities of fielded military and commercial systems of every size and description are set to increase,” Custom Market Insights said Feb. 3. According to the report, persistent military drones will account […] More