UAS

In another small, but promising step toward the adoption of commercial drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted exemptions to four companies that clear their unmanned aircraft systems for use in aerial surveying, construction site monitoring and oil rig flare stack inspections.

Citing opportunities both technological and regulatory, Australian drone startup Flirtey has announced plans to expand overseas. So how does a business hinged on the speculative nature of delivery drones navigate such uncharted territory? We spoke with CEO Matt Sweeney on taking Flirtey global.

With the ability to patrol from the air, an application for drones with huge potential is wildlife conservation. AREND is an international team of students currently developing an unmanned aerial system, with the ultimate objective of combatting poaching in Africa's national parks.

Northrop Grumman and Yamaha are teaming up to develop a small, unmanned autonomous helicopter system. The Rotary-Bat (R-Bat) is aimed at a range of applications in both urban and rural areas, including search and rescue, power line inspection, border patrol and forest fire observation.

A solar-powered variant of AeroVironment’s hand-launched Puma AE small UAS has stayed in the air for a total of nine hours and 11 minutes, eclipsing the two-hour flight time of the standard battery-powered Puma AE and comparable competitor aircraft by a considerable margin.

Spain's ATLANTE Unmanned Aerial System made its maiden flight at the end of February.

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have demonstrated of a wireless, handheld device that will allow deck operators to remotely control the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) on a carrier deck.

Raytheon's Pyros small tactical munition intended for delivery via UAV has passed an end-to-end test with flying colors.

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator has taken to the skies at its new home at Pax River, Maryland, for the first time.

The flight time of the Stalker UAS has been improved by a whopping 2,400 percent using a laser power system to wirelessly transfer power to the UAS from the ground.

The Northrop Grumman-built X-47B has successfully completed the first major phase of flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Northrop Grumman has announced that it will send a variant of the Global Hawk UAS into Arctic skies.