US Border Patrol looks into small unmanned aircraft operations

The United States Border Patrol (USBP) agency is planning to add small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to their operations that will provide Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) capability along the U.S. southern and northern border. USBP announced their plans in a Request For Information (RFI) document released Thursday.

The Border Patrol is a sub-component of the United States Customs and Border Protection whose mission is to prevent the illegal flow of people and contraband into the U. S. via air, land, and sea. The USBP’s primary mission is to conduct law enforcement activities along the U. S. border and between the official U. S. ports of entry. As the nation’s single, unified border agency, USBP's mission is vitally important for the protection of the American people and the national economy. USBP represents the first line of defense of America's borders. One of USBP's strategic objectives is to establish and maintain effective control of air, land, and maritime borders with the appropriate mix of infrastructure, technology, and personnel. An integral component to this situational awareness is the planned use of sUAS to provide RSTA capability to the USBP along the southern and northern border.

The Border Patrol is seeking to obtain information from industry about the availability of fixed wing sUAS. “This RFI is issued solely for information, planning purposes, and market research only; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP,” the agency said in the RFI document.

The number of sUAS deployed within each USBP sector will vary based on geography, availability of equipment and trained operators, and operational need. When deployed, the system will provide the sUAS operator with video data that enables the detection, identification, classification, and tracking of Items of Interest (IoI) in rugged, remote, rural, urban, riverine, and coastal environments. The sUAS will also support vectoring of USBP agents to the immediate vicinity of the IoI for interdiction and event resolution, and if the sUAS has illumination capabilities (laser illuminator) will provide covert IoI illumination to assist agents in prepositioning themselves for intercepting the IoI.

The sUAS can be transported in several form factors, from a single backpack to several large hard cases that need to be transported by vehicle to a location closer to the final deployment location. The sUAS must be ruggedized so it can be transported in a 4x4 vehicle over terrain in the USBP operational environment, sometimes for long distances. The sUAS, packaged for transport, must not obstruct or disrupt the driver while in transport. Once the system is deployed, the agent will operate the system for the duration of their 10-hour shift. The operator interface (ground control system) shall allow the agent to control the sUAS easily for extended periods of time. The agent shall be able to adjust the screen brightness as necessary. The operator interface controls shall be intuitive and placed so that they are easy to reach. The agent will need to have the ability to rapidly move the system from one deployment location to another. The system shall allow the agent to easily and quickly prepare the sUAS for deployment to a different site.

Interested vendors are requested to submit their response to the USBP no later than Dec. 10.

US Navy looks to test Close-Range Armed Unmanned Air Vehicles

The U.S. Navy released a Request For Information (RFI) on Friday as part of a market survey to determine the availability, technical capability, and logistics capability of industry to provide specific information to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division about Commercial Off-The-Shelf Close-Range Armed Unmanned Air Vehicles (CRA-UAVs). The RFI document includes CRA-UAVs that are developed but not yet in production, but can reasonably be expected to be in the status of test-ready articles for comparative testing in April 2019. CRA-UAVs include armed UAVs that have a range of up to 50 kilometers and endurance time of five minutes to six hours. “Ordinary Close Range-UAVs are usually used only for reconnaissance and surveillance tasks; however the CRA-UAVs that NSWC Crane Division seeks should be armed for immediate firing on targets found during reconnaissance and surveillance flights,” the Navy said in the RFI.

NSWC Crane is presently conducting this market survey seeking information from industry, U.S. government, and academia, to analyze alternatives and consider various CRA-UAVs for future procurement. These can be either hover-type or loiter-type CRA-UAVs.

The CRA-UAVs that NSWC Crane Division seeks should meet the following:

• Carry armaments which may include small arms, rockets, grenades, and less-than-lethal weapons and devices, or combinations of weapons and devices.
• Have a wireless remote safe, arm, and fire capability, allowing safe, arm, and either fire, or return to safe while in flight.
• Once armed, CRA-UAVs must be able to be remotely placed back into the safe mode, allowing the CRA-UAVs to safely return to the launch point.
• Be capable of single person operation (pilot is the gunner) or double person operation (pilot and gunner separate individuals).
• Be compatible with common tactical mobile Smartphones or other mobile devices.
• May include remotely-controlled gimbals or mounted remote firing stations.
• May include concepts for non-line of sight operation, such as signal repeaters.

Demand for UAS pilots remains a challenge for US military

The demand for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has grown dramatically in the last decade to support combat operations. In response to the increased demand for UAS, over the last eight years the Air Force has more than quadrupled the number of UAS pilots that it requires, from about 400 in 2008 to close to 1,650 in 2016. However, the Air Force has faced challenges meeting its UAS pilot requirements. The Commanding General of the Air Force’s Air Combat Command testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Airland in March 2016 that the Air Force had a shortage of about 200 UAS pilots. Meanwhile, the Army has faced a different challenge in managing its UAS pilot workforce—keeping the UAS pilots trained. A March 2015 Army review found that UAS mishaps were occurring at a rate higher than for other types of Army aircraft and Army officials stated that training shortfalls had contributed to these mishaps.

In April 2014, an Air Force investigation board found by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of a MQ-1B Predator drone accident was low-level wind shear during a critical phase of landing, and the pilot's lack of training in landing operations. The MQ-1B impacted a runway at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Air Force and the Army primarily rely on military servicemembers to serve as UAS pilots, although both services augment their UAS pilot workforce with contractors. In the last two decades, Air Force and Army UAS platform capabilities and missions have evolved.

For example, the Air Force initially used the MQ-1 Predator to perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions before adding weapons to the Predator and acquiring the MQ-9 Reaper, which can perform strikes, combat search and rescue, and close air support, among other missions and tasks.

Source: Government Accountability Office

Bye Aerospace and SolAero Technologies collaborate on unmanned aerial vehicle

SolAero Technologies Corp. recently announced a product development and manufacturing collaboration with Bye Aerospace to power Bye's StratoAirNet solar-electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with SolAero's solar cells and flexible solar modules.

The StratoAirNet UAVs will provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to support commercial and government security requirements. The initial medium-altitude StratoAirNet 15 proof of concept prototype is undergoing final assembly. Following the successful preliminary design review process, flight tests were conducted on a small-scale wing powered by SolAero solar cells. Following further measurements and fit checks, additional test flights will soon commence on the 15-meter wing span prototype.

Since 2001, SolAero products have reliably powered nearly 200 successful satellite missions in space. The solar cells on StratoAirNet will allow the airplane to fly at higher altitudes with almost unlimited flight endurance, said George Bye, CEO of Bye Aerospace.

Bye said potential commercial mission applications for StratoAirNet include communications relay, internet service, mapping, search and rescue, firefighting command and control, anti-poaching monitoring, damage assessment, severe weather tracking, agriculture monitoring, mineral source surveying, spill detection and infrastructure quality assessment.

Anti-drone market worth $2 billion by 2024

The global anti-drone market is anticipated to be worth $1.85 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The increasing use of drones has resulted in the commencement of another market that focuses on a solution for rogue unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), complete with net-firing bazookas, electromagnetic shields, and anti-drone death rays.

The steep rise in the adoption of drones for commercial as well as recreational purposes has increased concerns regarding aerial attacks and threats. Detection and identification of these unmanned aircraft systems have become a vital factor for the maintenance of the security. Various institutions across the world are increasingly deploying counter drone measures to address the ever-growing need for safety and security.

As UAVs become deadlier, stealthier, faster, agile, smaller, sleeker, and cheaper, the nuisance and threats posed by them are expected to grow at numerous levels, ranging from personal/domestic privacy to national security. With that in mind, there is significant effort both in terms of money and technology being invested in the development of anti-drone technologies.

Various national security agencies across the world have started to precisely understand the potential threats from drones and increasingly considering commercial as well as consumer drones as the new major threat to the world. It is only a matter of time before redundant and reliable methods of countering drones become mainstream and widely available.

Several busy airports and hubs across the world are seeking defense measures and regulations to protect their airliners and harbored aircraft from drones straying into commercial airspace and posing innumerable threats of a collision.

AT&T and NASA are researching the development of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management solution that would support the safe and highly secure operation of drones in the national airspace. A key element AT&T and NASA are researching is the potential impact of cybersecurity threats. The vast availability of drones -- and their many current and potential uses -- could increase their risk of cyberattacks. AT&T advocates cybersecurity protections designed into the system from the outset.

Further key findings from the report suggest: 

• Manufacturers across the world are increasingly developing innovative solutions to detect smaller recreational drones through their acoustic signature and visually.
• Asia Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period owing to increasing government spending in the expansion of aerospace and defense infrastructure across emerging economies.
• Electronic countermeasures are anticipated to emerge as a lucrative segment over the next eight years as these measures involve the use of high power electromagnetic and high power microwave weapons to prevent successful transmission and reception of drone signals.
• Various drone manufacturers, including DJI, have already started integrating "no fly zone" restrictions directly onto the onboard firmware in some of their products.
• Numerous reports of drone sightings have been coming from various members of the airspace system, which in turn is presumed to propel the adoption of counter-UAV systems in commercial venues.

Sentient’s ViDAR system gives unmanned aircraft a ‘find’ function for the first time

Sentient Vision Systems has signed an exclusive global distribution agreement with Insitu for the ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) software to be incorporated within the company's unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Insitu will incorporate the ViDAR payload into its fleet of unmanned systems, beginning with its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft. The ViDAR software is built into the ScanEagle payload by Hood Technologies.

ViDAR is a wide area autonomous detection system for electro-optic imagery in the maritime domain enabling coverage over 80 times the ocean’s surface compared with existing electro-optic sensors. ViDAR transforms the utility of tactical UAS’s by giving them a ‘find’ function for the first time. Operators typically must rely on larger, more expensive aircraft to detect objects in the ocean; ViDAR provides the find capability in a smaller, more cost-effective payload.

“The inability to find objects on the ocean’s surface has placed a huge limitation on the utility of tactical UAS.” said Simon Olsen, Sentient’s Director of Business Development, Strategy and Partnerships. “Fast boats, rubber rafts or even a person in the water – ViDAR finds them all – and does so at a fraction of the size and cost of existing technologies.”

Sentient’s ViDAR software autonomously detects any object on the surface of the ocean, providing the ground control station with an image and location coordinate of each object detected in real time. In demonstrations, ViDAR has autonomously detected a fishing vessel at 14 nautical miles, a fast boat at more than 9 nm and even the spout of a whale at 1.5 nm from the aircraft.

ScanEagle demonstrates fire monitoring capability over Olympic National Park

While more than 625,000 acres of wildfires burned throughout the Pacific Northwest, crew members of the Insitu Rapid Response team launched a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft into the hazy skies above the Paradise Fire in Washington's Olympic National Park. The event marked the beginning of an operational demonstration designed to show how unmanned aircraft technology can be a powerful force multiplier in the fight against wildfires.

ScanEagle flew six operations, delivering more than 37 hours of infrared video in real time to Incident Command personnel. Insitu's suite of motion imagery software provided enhanced video and geo-registration capabilities that enabled fire officials to pinpoint the fire's perimeter and identify areas of intense heat. ScanEagle also assisted helicopter assets with evaluating water drop locations.

"This exercise demonstrated our ability to collect, process and deliver information that helps fire officials achieve better outcomes,” said Insitu President and CEO Ryan Hartman.

ScanEagle flew within an emergency certificate of authorization issued to the Department of Interior from the Federal Aviation Administration that permitted its operation within the confines of the temporary flight restriction.

Meeting: Future Army acquisition of small unmanned aircraft

The U.S. Army's Joint Program Management Review for the Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Product Office is hosting a meeting this month to review activities going forward for the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) program.

“The government representatives will provide presentations covering the Frequency Reallocation/Spectrum Realignment strategy, the SUAS Acquisition Strategy, and the contracting strategy,” Army officials said in a Special Notice document released Saturday.

The meeting will take place Aug. 31 at the Double Tree Downtown in San Antonio, Texas.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Most dynamic growth sector of aerospace

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) continue as the most dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry this decade, according to a new study released by Teal Group, a market analysis firm based in Fairfax, Va. New unmanned combat aerial vehicle programs, commercial, and consumer spending all promise to drive more than a tripling of the market over the next decade.

 

Teal Group's 2015 market study estimates that UAV production will soar from current worldwide production of $4 billion annually to $14 billion, totaling $93 billion in the next ten years.  Military UAV research spending would add another $30 billion over the decade.

This year's study includes consumer UAVs for the first time because of their rapid growth and the blurring of the commercial and consumer markets. "Consumer UAVs are showing that they can do many of the easier commercial missions such as simple real estate photography," said Philip Finnegan, Teal Group's director of corporate analysis and an author of the study.

"Our 2015 UAV study calculates the market at 72 percent military, 23 percent consumer, 5 percent civil cumulative for the decade,” Finnegan said. Of the three areas, civil UAVs grow most rapidly over the forecast period as airspace around the world is opened, but it grows from a very low base.

"The Teal Group study predicts that the U.S. will account for 64 percent of total military worldwide Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation spending on UAV technology over the next decade, and about 38 percent of the military procurement," said Teal Group senior analyst Steve Zaloga, another author of the study.

The 2015 study provides 10-year funding and production forecasts for a wide range of UAV payloads, including Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensors (EO/IR), Synthetic Aperture Radars, Signals Intelligance, Electronic Warfare and C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, & Intelligence) systems. These payloads are forecast to double in value from $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2015 to $6.4 billion in fiscal year 2024. EO/IR is still the default sensor for the vast majority of UAVs, but recent years have seen up-and-down funding and considerable uncertainty, as legacy endurance UAV production has ended.

New sensor markets will see great increases as radio frequency (RF) systems supplant EO/IR capabilities, and next-generation UAVs at all scales require much more sophisticated - and expensive - sensors. "Rapidly increasing capabilities for RF sensors will be funded, as potential conflicts shift from clear-skies Central Asia to the more restrictive geographies of Eastern Europe and the Pacific," according to David Rockwell, author of the electronics portion of the new study.

"UAVs will continue to provide the world's fastest-growing aerospace payload market, but not through continued growth of 'the usual suspects' from the past decade. Instead, new sensor programs for current and future air vehicles will result in more unexpected growth spurts and losses. We now forecast a number of speculative new programs in the out-years, including estimates of classified programs. Wise companies will plan today for growth tomorrow," according to Rockwell.

"UAVs are no longer of interest only to aerospace companies, but increasingly technology companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon see a need to be in the market," said Finnegan.

Unmanned Aerial Systems services contract at NASA Ames Research Center

NASA's Ames Research Center in California plans to issue a Final Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Aircraft Related Services (ARS) contract.

The purpose of the ARS procurement is to provide services in support of the U.S. Army requirements for aircraft operations and maintenance as well as NASA requirements for Unmanned Aerial Systems at Ames Research Center. This procurement will support research, technical investigations, scientific studies, airworthiness activities, and flight operations.

The ARS requirements support the Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, a division of the Research, Development and Engineering Command/NASA Ames Rotorcraft Division and the Ames Aviation Management Office. This procurement will provide services in the following technical areas: mechanical systems, electrical/electronic systems, instrumentation, hardware fabrication, software, and data systems. The work will be performed primarily at Ames in Moffett Field, Calif.

NASA plans to issue the Final RFP Aug. 31 with contract award on Jan. 25, 2016. “This procurement will be for five years with a one year base period, one two year option and two, one year option periods,” NASA said in contract documents released Friday.

NASA is scheduling an Industry Meeting with the Contracting Officer and Technical Representatives to discuss the procurement and technical requirements during Aug. 10 through Aug. 12, before release of the RFP.

USGS Alaska using unmanned aircraft to survey walrus herds

The U.S. Geological Survey located in Anchorage, Alaska, intends to make a non-competitive contract award to the University of Alaska (Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration) located in Fairbanks for flight services to acquire data using an unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The objectives of the services are related to investigating the potential of using a UAS for photographic surveys of walrus herds on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea and coastal haulouts in northwest Alaska.

"The University of Alaska is the only known source that has the experience with marine mammal surveys in conjunction with the appropriate UAS type (hexacopter or other rotary platform) and imaging technology (real-time video in conjunction with high resolution photography) for the study," USGS officials said in contract documents released Friday.

Realtors flying drones to market property listings

There will be a time when realtors can legally fly an unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone, around property listings to capture images for marketing purposes, but that time has not yet arrived, at least not completely. That's according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials who told realtors Friday during the “When, Where and How can I Use My Drone” session at the Realtors Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

According to Jim Williams, manager of FAA's UAS Integration Office, the agency's administrator Michael Huerta is committed to quickly finalizing the federal rules for the commercial use of UAS in national airspace, which is currently prohibited. Until that time, realtors can apply for a Section 333 waiver, which provides a limited-use permit to the applicant and comes with many safety restrictions on use of the machine.

Panelist Doug Trudeau of Tierra Antigua Realty in Tuscon, Ariz., the first realtor to apply for and receive a Section 333 exemption from the FAA to create marketing videos for property listings, discussed the waiver application process and offered advice to other realtors who are interested in pursuing a waiver.

After contacting an attorney with the FAA, Trudeau said he did several weeks of research on his own and chose to complete the application without hiring a private attorney. The guidelines are fairly clear, Trudeau said, but he could have saved himself some headaches if he had logged his previous UAS flying times and made sure his quadcopter was built in the U.S., because the FAA will not register a UAS that is registered by any foreign government.

From start to finish, the process took Trudeau 170 days, but he said it should go a lot faster for new applicants.

The FAA has received more than 1,200 waiver applications, approved 311, and is on track to approve 20 to 40 waivers each week.

Some of the earlier waivers restrict operators from flying a UAS within five miles of any airport, while other waivers limit it to two miles. Williams said that safety is the agency's biggest concern, and because UAS are so easy to purchase and fly, it's a growing problem.

"A lot of folks out there don't understand the risk they are getting into when they operate near an airport. It's potentially very dangerous," said Williams, who also encouraged realtors to call the FAA and report any UAS activity near airports.

The FAA is working on ways to approve UAS flights over major metropolitan areas and also flights that go beyond the line of sight of the operator. On May 6, National Association of Realtors President Chris Polychron issued a statement in support of the FAA's intention to study the safety of these flights, which could lead to important benefits in the real estate industry, particularly for agents who wish to market rural and large commercial properties.

During the session, NAR Associate Counsel Lesley Walker advised the audience that until the FAA finalizes its regulations, Realtors should refrain from using UAS technology for commercial marketing purposes.

NASA to award unmanned aircraft test site contracts

NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California intends to solicit and award one or more contracts to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Sites, according to contract documents released Thursday. The FAA authorized six Test Sites for the purpose of research, development, and testing of UAS aircraft to support integration of unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System.

The anticipated release date of the Request for Proposal is on or about June 15, with an anticipated offer due date of on or about July 30.

Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market worth $1.6 billion

The small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market will reach $1.61 billion in 2015, according to a new report published by Visiongain, a London-based research firm that produces market research reports giving a 10-year forecast.

The wide variety of applications in which small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be deployed is growing every day. As this growth-platform finds new uses, the demand for small UAVs will be significant, with a wide and varied geographical spread. This growth is forecast to vary country-by-country and by design type. Understanding these dynamics - particularly the variations and intricacies the market produces - will be crucial to those seeking to invest in the small UAV market.

Homeland security and defense applications are set to grow, particularly as payloads grow to enable collection of a wide variety of data (such as CBRN threats, facial recognition, military ISTAR sensors and others), as are data-collecting applications for research purposes.

The use of small UAVs to replace manned tasks which risk life and limb reduces the liabilities associated with traditional inspection and detection techniques (patrolling, etc). The automation of small UAVs will also likely bring great cost and time savings for applications such as agricultural spraying, delivery of goods and many other applications.

FAA partners with CNN to help expand unmanned aircraft operations in US

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is partnering with three leading U.S. companies who have committed extensive resources to perform research that will help the agency determine if and how they can safely expand unmanned aircraft operations in the United States.

The partnering effort, known as Pathfinder Program, was announced by FAA Administrator Michael Hureta on Wednesday at the Unmanned Systems 2015 conference in Atlanta, Ga.

“The unmanned aircraft industry is changing faster than any segment of the aviation industry,” Hureta said. “People are finding new ways to use these devices on almost a daily basis.” Three companies reached out to the FAA to work with the agency and explore three key types of unmanned operations.

CNN will be researching how visual line-of-sight operations might be used for newsgathering in urban areas.

PrecisionHawk, a manufacturer, will be surveying crops in rural areas using unmanned aircraft flying outside of the pilot’s direct vision.

BNSF Railroad will explore the challenges of using these vehicles to inspect their rail infrastructure beyond visual line-of-sight in isolated areas.

“We anticipate receiving valuable data from each of these trials that could result in FAA-approved operations in the next few years,” Hureta said. “They will also give insight into how unmanned aircraft can be used to transform the way certain industries do business – whether that means making sure trains run on time, checking on the health of crops, or reporting on a natural disaster.

“Integrating unmanned aircraft into our airspace is a big job, and it’s one the FAA is determined to get right. Earlier this year, we took an important step forward by releasing a proposed rule that laid out a flexible framework for allowing the routine use of small unmanned aircraft. It included a number of common sense provisions, like not flying near airports, at night, or more than 500 feet off the ground. It also recommended requiring the operator to be able to see the unmanned vehicle at all times.

“The FAA received more than 4,000 public comments on the proposal, and we’re working to address them before finalizing the rule.

“This, however, takes time – so we’re actively looking for other ways to expand the use of unmanned aircraft in the meantime. We’re receiving valuable information from our six national test sites. We’re also accommodating requests for some commercial operations. The Pathfinder program is our latest step in the right direction – and I’m eager to see the results.”

Video: X-47B conducts first Autonomous Aerial Refueling

The X-47B successfully conducted the first ever Autonomous Aerial Refueling of an unmanned aircraft Wednesday, completing the final test objective under the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration program.

The future of Naval Aviation Unmanned Air Systems

The U.S. Navy's Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Weapons, PEO(U&W), is planning to conduct an Industry Day meeting and follow-on Idea Days to provide opportunities for industry to learn about the technology needs of PEO(U&W) with the potential for follow-on briefings regarding technologies that industry has developed.

“This opportunity is open to all companies that have new and innovative ideas to support the future of Naval Aviation Unmanned Air System (UAS) and Weapon programs,” the Navy said in a Special Notice released Tuesday.

The Industry Day meeting will be held April 16 at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department Social Hall in Lexington Park, Md. The Idea Days meeting will be an opportunity for industry to brief the Navy on developed technologies that may benefit PEO(U&W) UAS programs.

Chaucer Consulting joins mission to the Moon

Chaucer Consulting has been selected as the business program project manager for the preparatory stage of the Lunar Mission One initiative. Lunar Mission One will send an unmanned robotic landing module to the South Pole of the Moon - an area unexplored by previous missions. Chaucer's initial role for the mission is to advise, shape and enable the overall program during the next six months.

The mission will use pioneering technology to drill down to a depth of at least 20 meters - 10 times deeper than has ever been drilled before - and potentially as deep as 100 meters. “This will provide access to lunar rock dating back up to 4.5 billion years to discover the geological composition of the Moon, the ancient relationship it shares with our planet and the effects of asteroid bombardment," Chaucer said in a company press release. “Ultimately, the project will improve scientific understanding of the early solar system, the formation of our planet and the Moon, and the conditions that initiated life on Earth.”

"The Lunar Mission One project's progress will depend on the initial scoping and delivery of this preliminary stage,” said Chris Laslett, Chaucer Global CEO.

Lunar Mission One is being run by Lunar Missions Ltd, its operating company, to which
Chaucer will report.

Interior Department request additional unmanned helicopter demos

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Office of Aviation Services, seeks companies interested in demonstrating their optionally-piloted heavy lift helicopter, according to a Special Notice document released Wednesday.

The demonstration is tentatively planned for May 2015 in Boise, Ida. The exact date, time, and location will be formalized in the coming weeks and a follow-up announcement will be made at that time. In Novermber 2014, Kaman Aerospace and Lockheed Martin doused controlled burns with an optionally piloted K-MAX helicopter during flight demonstrations in upstate New York.

“This event will be open to companies capable of providing and operating an optionally piloted heavy lift helicopter in the manned and unmanned configuration,” the Interior Department said in the Special Notice. “The purpose of this demonstration is to assess the feasibility of utilizing these types of aircraft for a variety of missions, including, but not limited to fire suppression at night and during low visibility conditions as well as cargo delivery. At this time we are asking for an initial response of capable companies interested in demonstrating this type of aircraft. As part of this demonstration, the company owned and operated, optionally piloted aircraft will be asked to perform the following scenario based missions over a one to three day period:

• External load cargo pickup in the unmanned configuration.
• External Load cargo delivery in the unmanned configuration.
• Single target water dropping.
• Progressive line building with bucket.
• Water pickup from a variety of different dip sites.
• In-flight re-tasking of the aircraft.
• Multiple load delivery (carousel hook).
• Communicate with crews on the ground to identify, locate and drop water or deliver cargo to a specific site.
• Provide Real-time optical and thermal infrared imagery to the ground control station.”

The demonstration will take place in high desert and mountainous terrain similar to wildland fire conditions and environment.

“This announcement is for information planning purposes only and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the government for any actual procurement of supplies or services,” DOI officials said.

Companies interested in participating in the flight demonstrations are invited to contact the DOI by Feb.17.

Video: New drone hangar coming to Fort Drum

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District intends to issue an Invitation For Bid solicitation package seeking to award a contract for the construction of a standard design unmanned aerial vehicle hangar. The new hangar will be located at Fort Drum, N.Y., the Army said in contract documents released Wednesday.

The work includes an operations and maintenance hangar with shops, company administration, supply space, tool and parts storage, oil/water separator, petroleum, oil and lubricant storage, hazardous waste storage, access apron, runway overrun, taxiway, enclosed aircraft container storage, fire protection and alarm systems, Intrusion Detection System installation, Energy Monitoring Control Systems connection, and building information systems.

The performance period for the contract will be approximately 545 calendar days from the issuance of the Notice to Proceed. The project magnitude is between $10 million and $25 million. The Army anticipates the hangar plans and specifications will be available on Jan. 30 with a bid opening on March 3.