Free Republic

Germany’s plan to lease Israeli drones has been put on hold after a legal challenge by US weapons manufacturer. In January, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced the plan to lease Israel Aerospace Industries’ Eitan (“Steadfast”) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The drones, also known as Heron TPs, have a range of over 7,400 kilometers (4,600 miles), and can remain airborne for more than 70 hours. This lease was intended to serve a temporary need until 2025, when Germany, Italy and France expect to complete development of a joint drone. However, on Monday, US firm General Atomics, maker of the...

When you first see Israel Aircraft Industries' Harop drone, the "Star Trek" association is unmistakable. Like the Klingon Bird of Prey it resembles, the Harop is small, maneuverable, nearly impossible to detect, relatively inexpensive, and is downright deadly. And when it comes to accomplishing its mission, it even operates on the belief that “today is a great day to die.” The diminutive drone doesn’t carry any munitions; it doesn’t need to, because it is the munition. A 50-pound high explosive charge is part of the Harop itself, and if it finds an enemy radar or another target of opportunity in...

Inside the test flight of Facebook’s first internet drone.

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded target drone builder Kratos a contract to execute what it calls a Low-Cost Attritable Strike Unmanned Aerial System Demonstration (LCASD). This proof-of-concept initiative is centered on creating a (relatively) cheap unmanned combat aircraft that the USAF can afford to lose in combat, even opting to do so willingly by sending it on a one-way mission if need be. Alternatively, if the vehicle had the range to return to friendly territory, it could be repeatedly recovered and launched again on other missions, even from small bases without runways. The contract’s total value is $40.8...

Elbit Systems’ 12-meter experimental Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), dubbed Seagull, has been busy testing new capabilities and control concepts in recent months. The idea is that a small swarm of these craft—well, just two right now—can be controlled from a single workstation, deployed either ashore or on a ship. From there, tasks such as harbor patrol and force protection, mine detection, search and rescue and even anti-submarine warfare can be conducted with maximum efficiency. The Seagull’s semi-autonomous control concept, long endurance (up to 96 hours of runtime), advanced sensor suite, and ease of adaptation could allow it to be a...

Senior Afghan Taliban sources on Sunday confirmed the death of their chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike in Pakistan, adding a shura or council is underway to decide his successor. “I can say with good authority that Mullah Mansour is no more,” a senior Taliban source told AFP. Mansour’s death was confirmed by two other senior figures, who said the group’s top leaders were gathering in Quetta to name their future chief. Earlier, Reuters quoted a US official as saying that Mansour was “likely killed” along with another combatant.

India has formally asked the United States for Predator C Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), a leading defence journal says. Reliable sources told India Strategic that the Predator C requirement has been mentioned at a very high level during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s just-concluded visit to Washington. Now that India is getting into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), President Barack Obama will ask the State and Defense Departments to consider the Indian request. Predator C is made by General Atomics Aeronautical System Inc. (GA-ASI), which has already offered an unarmed version, Predator XP, to the Indian Air Force (IAF)...

FAA Warns of GPS Outages This Month During Mysterious Tests on the West Coast http://gizmodo.com/faa-warns-of-gps-outages-this-month-during-mysterious-t-1780866590

The Department of Labor has awarded Utica, New York, $2 million to teach young refugees how to build drones as part of a summer jobs program. About 400 teenage refugee students living in the city will get part-time summer jobs through the program, as well as tutoring in English and Math. Those who demonstrate academic competence will then take part in a year-long drone building challenge during the school year, as the work and tutoring continues. The 14- and 15-year-old refugee students will learn how to design a drone and then construct their own model using the lab of the...

Pakistan said the United States drone strike that reportedly killed a Taliban leader violated its sovereignty, The Guardian reported . Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in an airstrike on Saturday in Pakistan, CNN confirmed , according to sources within al Qaeda and the Taliban. U.S. officials said the drone strike was authorized by President Obama. But Pakistan said Sunday the U.S. government didn't tell Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of its plans ahead of the strike. “This is a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Sharif told reporters in London, according to The Guardian. The Guardian reported that the American government...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States carried out a drone strike on Saturday against the leader of Afghan Taliban, likely killing him on the Pakistan side of the remote border region with Afghanistan in a mission authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama, officials said.

A collision between a British Airways passenger jet and a drone over London has left the plane undamaged but the aviation industry deeply shaken. British police and air accident authorities were investigating Sunday's incident, in which an Airbus A320 carrying 137 people struck an object believed to be a drone at a height of about 1,700 feet (518 meters) while it was approaching Heathrow Airport. The plane landed safely and was cleared to fly again after an inspection by engineers. But the incident has focused attention on the growing number of unregulated drones in the sky and the potential for...

A plane approaching Heathrow Airport is believed to have hit a drone before it landed safely, the Metropolitan Police has said. The British Airways flight from Geneva was hit as it approached the London airport at about 12:50 BST with 132 passengers and five crew on board. After landing, the pilot reported an object - believed to be a drone - had struck the front of the Airbus A320. Police said no arrests have been made. If confirmed, it is believed to be the first incident of its kind in the UK. A British Airways spokesman said: "Our aircraft landed...

So far, he’s filmed five properties in Point Grey and a few in the south Cambie area. Many of them sit behind blue fences, the telltale sign a backhoe is on its way. Fieldwalker said accessing the properties is simple: “We just go up to them and shoot.” In the following film posted to Fieldwalker’s Vimeo page, the viewer is brought inside a 3,430 square-foot Point Grey teardown on Drummond Drive, which last year sold for $17.5 million. The property’s overgrown lawn, mossy shingles, smashed windows and missing doors suggest it’s been many years since anyone called it home. It's...

Some cool drone footage by Youtuber Jersey Drone of ships left abandoned at Staten Island’s Arthur Kill ship graveyard, eerily located on the Arthur Kill channel separating New York and New Jersey.

Flirtey makes first urban drone delivery in FAA test, beating Amazon to the punch by Alan Boyle on March 25, 2016 at 5:07 pm Flirtey’s hexacopter hovers over Nevada during a drone delivery test. (Credit: Flirtey) A startup named Flirtey says it’s executed the first FAA-approved urban drone delivery in the United States, in a test that could blaze a trail for Amazon and other companies that want to do the same thing. The GPS-guided drop-off to an unoccupied house took place on March 10 in Hawthorne, Nev. The package of supplies, including bottled water, emergency food supply and a...

Just east of the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Florida, is a lake. In the middle of Bay Lake is an island that Disney won't let anyone set foot on. That's because Discovery Island is home to an abandoned park that they'd rather nobody saw. Just across the water is another deserted park, River Country. These images show nature reclaiming what Disney left behind. These are the only Disney parks to close permanently. Discovery Island was a nature reserve open between 1974 and 1999 and River Country, a water theme park, operated from 1976 to 2001.

The close encounter between the wide-body, four-engine Airbus A380 and the drone occurred at about 1:30 p.m. at an altitude of 5,000 feet (152 metres) as the unmanned aircraft passed about 200 feet (61 meters) over the Lufthansa flight 14 miles (22.5 km) east of the airport, the FAA said. No evasive action was taken by the airline crew, and the plane, Lufthansa Flight 456, safely made its landing minutes later without further incident, according to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. The FAA immediately alerted the Los Angeles Police Department's air support division, an LAPD spokesman said. The number of passengers...

High over Alaska last summer, the Pentagon experimented with new, secret prototypes: Micro-drones that can be launched from the flare dispensers of moving F-16s and F/A-18 fighter jets. Canisters containing the tiny aircraft descended from the jets on parachutes before breaking open, allowing wings on each drone to swing out and catch the wind. Inch-wide propellers on the back provided propulsion as they found one another and created a swarm. The experiment was run by the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office, a Pentagon organization launched in summer 2012 to figure out how to best counter growing strategic threats from China and...