drones

Like a high-tech Russian nesting doll, a prototype US Air Force Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie combat drone being developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory dropped a smaller drone from its weapons bay during flight.

NASA says its Ingenuity Mars helicopter will make its first flight on the Red Planet on April 8 or later, depending on weather conditions and preflight tests. If successful, it will be will the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

If a drone were to inadvertently end up upside-down while flying, it would be good if the aircraft could automatically flip itself back over again, to avoid crashing. Such may someday be the case, thanks to a recent study on dragonfly flight.

Looking to extend the combat range of its aircraft and keep human operators removed from danger, DARPA has kicked off the development of a new missile-equipped, air-launched drone under its LongShot program.

Following a Kickstarter in 2017 to gauge interest in an electric flying car racing series, and an international public debut in 2019, Alauda Aeronautics has now unveiled a full-sized, fully functioning electric flying racing car – the Airspeeder Mk3.

San Francisco-based aquatic drone-maker Saildrone has returned with a bigger and better version of its unmanned vehicle designed to explore the seas, the newly introduced 72-ft (22-m) Saildrone Surveyor.

Researchers in China have demonstrated a quantum communication network where entangled photons are beamed between drones and ground stations, successfully maintaining their quantum link over a distance of 1 km.

DARPA says that air-recovery of three X-61A Gremlins missed success by just inches during recent tests. Nine attempts to capture the combat drones as they flew behind a C-130 transport plane failed, and they had to parachute to earth.

No matter how good we humans have made something, chances are nature did it better. Rather than compete, scientists have now tapped into a natural sensor with the Smellicopter, a drone that uses an antenna from a live moth to sniff out its targets.

Looking to make its mark in the world of space launches is US-based firm Aevum, which has just unveiled a massive drone called the Ravn X that is designed to act as an autonomous, airborne launch system for small satellites.

Florida's XTI Aircraft has ben working on its TriFan eVTOL concept for at least five years, and while a passenger version is still the key focus, the company has now put forward a long-range, autonomous diesel-hybrid cargo variant.

Florida's Undefined Technologies claims it has managed to increase the thrust levels of ion propulsion systems to "unprecedented levels" with its "Air Tantrum" technology, enabling very quiet drones with no moving parts in the propulsion system, that look like flying pallets.