Aerovel Testing Flexrotor Long-Endurance Robotic Aircraft With VTOL

Aerovel Testing Flexrotor Long-Endurance Robotic Aircraft With VTOL: "Aerovel's Flexrotor miniature aircraft entered a new development phase Tuesday as the first prototype, named Pandora, began flight test. The table-top sized aircraft is designed for more than 3000 km range, and endurance exceeding a day and a half.
In announcing its first flight, Aerovel's president, Tad McGeer - who previously led development of the Aerosonde and Scaneagle robotic aircraft - said that this time around was a little different.

"With Aerosonde we launched into flight test by barreling down the runway on a car roof, and with Scaneagle we blasted off with a catapult, so it was a nice change just to lift placidly into the air, and park in a hover a few metres off the ground."

A genteel entry to flight is possible because Flexrotor is a "tailsitter": it will fly like a normal fixed-wing aircraft in long-range cruise, but can also hover like a helicopter with its nose vertical.

This arrangement allows Flexrotor to achieve not only VTOL, explains McGeer, but also fully-automated turnaround."

Portable Laser Backpack Revolutionizes 3D Mapping

Portable Laser Backpack Revolutionizes 3D Mapping: A portable, laser backpack for 3D mapping has been developed at the University of California, Berkeley, where it is being hailed as a breakthrough technology capable of producing fast, automatic and realistic 3D mapping of difficult interior environments.

Research leading to the development of the reconnoitering backpack, was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office under the guidance of program managers, Dr. Jon Sjogren (AFOSR) and Dr. John Lavery (ARO).

The backpack is the first of a series of similar systems to work without being strapped to a robot or attached to a cart. At the same time, its data acquisition speed is very fast, as it collects the data while the human operator is walking; this is in contrast with existing systems in which the data is painstakingly collected in a stop and go fashion, resulting in days and weeks of data acquisition time.

Using this technology, Air Force personnel will be able to collectively view the interior of modeled buildings and interact over a network in order to achieve military goals like mission planning.

Under the direction of Dr. Avideh Zakhor, lead researcher and UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering, the scientists have been able to use this more portable method of mapping by way of sensors or lightweight (less than eight ounces) laser scanners.

"We have also developed novel sensor fusion algorithms that use cameras, lasers range finders and inertial measurement units to generate a textured, photo-realistic, 3D model that can operate without GPS input and that is a big challenge," said Zakhor.

There are many basic research issues to achieve a working system, including calibration, sensor registration and localization. Using multiple sensors facilitates the modeling process, though the data from various sensors do need to be registered and precisely fused with each other in order to result in coherent, aligned, and textured 3D models. Localization is another technical challenge since without it; it is not possible to line up scans from laser scanners in order to build the 3D point cloud, which is the first step in the modeling process.

"It is fair to say that embarking on such a hands-on project, to make indoor 3D modeling a matter of routine, a number of research questions of a fundamental nature came up," said Sjogren. "It is typical of the work that Prof. Zakhor has done for AFOSR/Air Force Research Laboratory over the years, that she meets these challenges head-on, and in most cases solves the problem sufficient to demonstrate a prototype system."

Sjogren noted that what is left for others is to examine the approach that was taken, and extend the techniques that were brought in, to a wider context.

"We are gratified to see how technology can drive science in a domain of critical relevance to practical defense implementations," he said.

Even though they don't have all the answers yet, the scientists are boldly looking ahead to how this technology can be used in the future when they plan to model entire buildings and develop interactive viewers that allow users to virtually walk through buildings before they are there in person.

In the meantime, the cutting-edge technology is being successfully implemented on campus.

"We have already generated 3D models of two stories of the electrical engineering building at UC Berkeley, including the stairway and that is a first," said Zakhor.

F-35's DAS Demonstrates Ballistic Missile Defense Capabilities

F-35's DAS Demonstrates Ballistic Missile Defense Capabilities: "Northrop Grumman's AN/AAQ-37 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter successfully detected and tracked a two-stage rocket launch at a distance exceeding 800 miles during a routine flight test conducted aboard the company's BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft.
'The DAS could fill critical capability gaps in the area of ballistic missile defense (BMD),' said Dave Bouchard, program director for F-35 sensors at Northrop Grumman.
'We have only scratched the surface on the number of functions the F-35's DAS is capable of providing. With DAS, we've combined instantaneous 360-degree spherical coverage, high frame refresh rates, high resolution, high sensitivity powerful processors and advanced algorithms into a single system. The number of possibilities is endless.'"

Raytheon's SLAMRAAM Completes First FMTV Launcher Test Firing

Raytheon's SLAMRAAM Completes First FMTV Launcher Test Firing: "Raytheon's SLAMRAAM (Surface Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) system successfully participated in a ballistic test vehicle (BTV) firing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The test included the firing of multiple AMRAAM missiles from the new Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) platform.
The FMTV was chosen as the new platform for the SLAMRAAM system to increase survivability. The new platform provides additional armored capability and is more ruggedized to support the SLAMRAAM mission."

Grey Eagle Weaponized UAS Slated For Afghanistan

Grey Eagle Weaponized UAS Slated For Afghanistan: "Army unmanned aircraft systems officials said success was so great with the integration and testing of the Hellfire missile aboard the Grey Eagle UAS that the Army would begin deployment of four weaponized systems to Afghanistan in the fall.
In a Pentagon bloggers roundtable Aug. 25, Col. Greg Gonzalez, program manager for Army UAS said in recent user tests at the National Training Center, Soldiers had fired eight live fires with eight hits.
Of the eight, six aimed by the on-board laser designator were fired directly from the Grey Eagle platform resulting in six hits. The remaining two test fires were Hellfires launched from AH-64 Apaches which were also direct hits."

Boeing, Raytheon launch new missile

Boeing, Raytheon launch new missile: "Aerospace giants Raytheon Missile Systems and Boeing Co. have teamed up, testing a tactical missile anticipated to be launched by a half-dozen different aircraft.
The joint venture aims to secure a $5 billion contract to build more than 33,000 missiles for the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, known best by its JAGM acronym, is expected to replace Hellfire, Maverick and TOW missiles.

Both Boeing and Raytheon said recently that a test missile launch was completed with success at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The JAGM employed its infrared guidance system to lock on to the target before it launched and hit a stationary battlefield tank more than 2 miles away."

DoD Adviser: Pay, Retirement Systems Outdated, Too Costly - Defense News

DoD Adviser: Pay, Retirement Systems Outdated, Too Costly - Defense News: "The U.S. military must overhaul and reduce the cost of paying its people, funding their retirements and underwriting their health care, a top Pentagon adviser said.

Arnold Punaro said Defense Department budgeteers are already taking aim at weapons programs and operations and maintenance accounts. But it was regarding the military's skyrocketing personnel costs that the retired Marine Corps general and former senior SAIC executive sounded the loudest alarm during a Sept. 8 presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Punaro, a Defense Business Board senior fellow, led a DBB task force that in July recommended that Defense Secretary Robert Gates close U.S. Joint Forces Command. Weeks later, Gates proposed doing just that.

Punaro called the military's pension setup a 'pre-volunteer-force retirement system.'

'We know that it is not sustainable to pay people for 60 years to serve for 20,' the former Marine Corps Reserve director said.

He said the Pentagon spends $46 billion a year on retiree pay, not including health care."