Up and Soaring - UAS

Northrop Grumman to make Global Hawks for Korea

Northrop Grumman Corp. will produce four RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for the Republic of Korea’s Air Force. The systems will provide wide-area intelligence gathering capabilities. The contract includes two ground control stations and supporting equipment. Under a contract awarded Dec. 16, 2014, the company will work closely with the U.S. Air Force to deliver the systems starting in 2018. www.northropgrumman.com

General Atomics validates sense & avoid radar

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), a manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, successfully flight tested a pre-production Due Regard Radar (DRR). This marks the first functional air-to-air radar on a RPA that meets a requirement for operation in international airspace. DRR will allow users to operate Predator B independently in international airspace without the need for land-based, sea-based, or off-board airborne airspace surveillance.

Throughout December, Predator B was flown in scripted encounters against multiple small- and medium-sized manned aircraft while the pre-production DRR simultaneously tracked multiple targets and continued to search a wide field-of-regard (FoR).

The RPA automatically executed collision avoidance maneuvers, verifying integration with the second-generation traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS II) used on commercial aircraft.

GA-ASI’s Due Regard capability is now at technology readiness level (TRL) 7 and is ready for a customer to conduct an operational test and evaluation (OT&E). www.ga-asi.com

Drone repair & return- to-service completed

Robotic Skies, a network of nearly 60 service centers across North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa that provides certification, maintenance, and repair for commercial unmanned aircraft, has completed its first repair of a commercial drone and returned it to operational service. The maintenance work was performed at Kings Avionics in Henderson, Nevada.

Chris Haskell, an FAA-certified avionics repairman, troubleshot and returned-to-operations a service-drone G4 1.4 unmanned aerial system to a U.S.-based customer. He had previously received training on site at the manufacturer’s Hamburg, Germany, headquarters, which supported the repair process.

Airframe, power plant, and avionics checks used in manned aircraft maintenance procedures were used to assure airworthiness. www.service-drone.com; www.roboticskies.com; www.kingsavionics.com