Airborne C4ISR

Few months after declaring the latest model Global Hawk intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) unmanned aircraft 'operational' the United States Air Force has announced it has decided to discontinue any further procurement of the Block 30 RQ-4 Global Hawk drones.

Embraer Defense and Security today delivered the first EMB 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) class of aircraft to the Government of India.

Elbit Systems unveiled today an advanced capability that has been operational for several years with the military forces of several nations, in homeland security and the war on terror. Using a single payload integrating multiple cameras that together provides an image built from billion pixels, SkEye enables users to simultaneously look, and zoom in or out into 10 Regions of Interest (ROI), using different viewing angles. At any time they can ‘look back in time’ to analyze how a situation unfolds.

International media sources have reported recently that Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) has acquired the three 'Harfang' unmanned aerial systems retired by the French Air Force after several years of service in Afghanistan. Harfang which deployed with the Armee de L'air in 2008 was delivered by EADS (Now Airbus Defense & Space), under the Eagle I cooperative development with Israel...

The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon a $90 million first-lot production contract for the next-generation Multi-Spectral Targeting System. As the latest variant of the MTS family of sensors, AN/DAS-4 incorporates greater fire control and Target Location Accuracy technology for precise coordinates.

Selex ES to supply 60 InfraRed Search and Track (IRST) Skyward for Saab's Gripen E. With the recent contract, added to AESA radar and IFF systems, Finmeccanica– Selex ES already provides about 30 percent of the Swedish next-generation fighter's electronics.

Upgrading the U.S. Army RC-12X Guardrail fleet of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft under a U.S. Army task order, Northropt Grumman is scheduled to deliver the first aircraft in the second quarter of this year. The company has already delivered the first two upgraded planes in January 2011. The second pair is in the final stages of their cockpit upgrades...

The U.S. Navy has entered the final phase of development of the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) pod that will replace the ALQ-99 that has been in use since the Vietnam War. The new electronic attack pod matches advanced electronic-attack technology that combines high-powered, agile, beam-jamming techniques with cutting-edge, solid-state electronics.

The miniaturization of electronic and electro-mechanical systems, including sensors, computers, and flight controls enable designers to create ‘flying sensors’. This article introduces three such sensors designed specifically for military operations.

Lockheed Martin broke silence today about the development of an unmanned hypersonic aircraft it is proposing for future reconnaissance and long-range strike missions. The company said it is ready to embark on the development of the SR-72 hypersonic unmanned aircraft that could enter service with the U.S. Air Force in 2030. The proposed drone is positioned the follow-on to the...

Future drone attacks could be more pervasive and less constrained by access permissions and host country support, once the US Navy goal to integrate unmanned systems capabilities on board its aircraft carriers is fulfilled. Current operations, conducted by the CIA and Air Force from land-based sites are constrained to the availability, permission and security provided by host nations, bases...

Four unmanned systems developers from Israel are introducing new versions of Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (STUAS) at Eurosatory, addressing the growing interest in tactical UAS among military forces worldwide.

The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA) selected Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as the prime contractors for the agency's Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) demonstration. The program seeks to help conduct dynamic Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) operations over long distances, against short lived, moving targets in denied or contested electromagnetic airspace.

The Goodrich's DB-110 reconnaissance pod is a digital, real-time, tactical reconnaissance system designed to capture images in day or night, using electro-optical sensor technology. The pod can transmit Images via datalink to the ground in real time. The system is produced Goodrich's Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems (SRS) team based in Chelmsford, Mass. The data link ground stations are designed...