Friday, December 23, 2016

Terminator Times #24

Drones:


The British committed funds to developing its version of the Reaper, the so-called Protector drone.

DARPA & Northrop Grumman's TERN gets more profiling ahead of its 2018 flight.

US drone pilots defend their tactics in Afghanistan. 

US drone pilot is being called one of the worst jobs in the US military.  I suspect some hyperbole here.


The USMC posted an RFI for a Group 2 class UAV.

 
China's Xianglong HALE UAV is about to enter service.

How Department 13's anti drone system works.

Israel is purchasing more Hermes 900 drones.

Israel has also awarded BlueBird a contract for target UAVs.

General Atomics has flight tested the US Army's improved Grey Eagle drone.

North Korea may be developing a long endurance drone.

Poland wants 1000 drones for combat operations.

Russian drone flights increased by 1.5 x in 2016.

The Skeldar VTOL UAV has a new meteorological payload.

New sensors are being tested on the ScanEagle drone.

TCI International showed off its counter drone system.

Tunisia has confirmed US drones are patrolling its border with Libya.

Why drone proliferation matters.

The drones provided to Ukraine by the US for the Donbass war have been very disappointing and virtually worthless.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles:

The first robotic targets have made their debut.

Robo Boats (Unmanned Surface Vehicles):


The US Navy's Office of Naval Research has demonstrated more advanced capabilities with its swarming USVs.

Boeing has bought USV builder Liquid Robotics.

DARPA's Sea Hunter has begun operational testing.

Robo Subs:

 
China seized a US Navy unmanned underwater vehicle, a SeaGlider, from the South China Sea.  The SeaGlider was taken by an armed People's Liberation Army Navy warship.   The US Navy stated the underwater drone was conducting weather data collection.  The PLAN and USN began discussions over its return and China has stated the return would happen.  China feels the US is overhyping the incident and the Chinese are handling the situation appropriately.  Trump has stated the Chinese ought to keep the drone.  The Chinese have returned the drone.  China says not to read too much into the affair.

3d Printing:

The USMC is working on providing opportunities for Marines to use 3d Printing.

META:

The US Navy wants to weave the LCS corvette/frigates, unmanned systems and subs into a battle network.

The US Navy is also looking into off the shelf, ready to field counter drone tech.

The unmanned era, Robopocalypse, is already here.

The UN wants to ban killer robots.  haha.

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