Unmanned

As it stands, air freight is incredibly quick but also very expensive, while ocean freight is far slower but very cost-effective. Startup Natilus is out to bridge the gap with a new breed of unmanned aircraft featuring a unique blended wing body.

Boeing's Loyal Wingman prototype combat drone reached a new milestone as two of the autonomous aircraft took to the skies recently in separate flights over the Woomera Range Complex in Australia. This marks the first time that the second drone has flown.

IBM's Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) has set sail across the Atlantic ocean without a crew or human control. The autonomous trimaran left Plymouth, England and en route to Plymouth, Massachusetts on a journey expected to take about three weeks.

The US Air Force has flight tested the Skyborg combat drone's Autonomy Core System for the first time. The "brain" of the autonomous Skyborg was installed in a Kratos UTAP-22 tactical uncrewed vehicle, and carried out a two-hour-and-10-minute flight.

For about a decade now, Kaman's K-Max intermeshing rotor helicopter has been flying unmanned cargo missions for US forces in Afghanistan. Now, the K-Max Titan is becoming the world's first heavy-lift unmanned helicopter for the commercial market, having taken its first flight last week.

California-based drone manufacturer Skyfront is claiming a new endurance world record for its Perimeter 8 gas-electric hybrid multirotor, which stayed airborne for 13 hours, 3 minutes and 57 seconds, covering 205 miles in the process.

BAE Systems has won a contract worth up to US$400 million to design a low-cost, autonomous robotic combat drone that can partner with piloted warplanes under the US Air Force's Skyborg program.

As part of the US Navy's Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) competition, Lockheed Martin has been selected as the main contractor to study how to provide the Navy with large, autonomous ships that can operate for extended periods without a crew.

The age of the unmanned combat jet is a step closer after Boeing Australia announced that its Loyal Wingman aircraft has fired up its commercial turbofan engine for the first time in anticipation of its first test flight.

Elbit Systems UK's autonomous Seagull Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) has completed Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) sea trials off the British coast in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, with the USA's L3Harris providing sonar systems.

Having introduced a massive heavy-lift drone at the end of October, Volocopter is now looking to show what the aircraft can do through a new partnership with John Deere, with the two developing a version customized for spraying crops.

The Australian Army has demonstrated a pair of M113 modified into autonomous fighting vehicles that it will use to study how robots will impact the battlefield of the future.