Competitors
The following list is not in any particular order and a company may also be our potential partner.
See also our analysis »UAVs in different countries
»Key People
»SENSE by yourDragonXi
AAI
~ AAI is a U.S. designer, manufacturer, and systems integrator of tactical unmanned aircraft systems and ground control station technologies
Northrop Grumman
~ BAMS Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) program to provide persistent maritime ISR data collection and dissemination capability to the
~ Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF)
~ NG opened its new system integration laboratory for the U.S. Army's RQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air vehicle
~ the laboratory provides a place for the Fire Scout team to test and refine the UAV
~ NG says it to be a step toward meeting the Army's demand for a big-picture network to better understand the battlefield environment
~ and simultaneously communicate among several of its assets.
Talon Light Attack and Surveillance Helicopter (L.A.S.H) concept
~ helicopter parts that are commercially available are being adapted into a very light weight but yet very durable airframe package
~ it will be able to run on everything from gasoline to diesel to bio diesel as well as kerosene and the JP-3, JP-4, JP-5, JP-6, JP-7, JP-8.
~ it will be able to carry out missions such as recon, light attack with onboard munitions, such as the hellfire attack missile
~ that is already in the military inventory, as well as dropping military supplies at a forward location with pinpoint accuracy
~ it will have a duration of approximately 6 to 8 hours flying time
~ it will be able to take off and land autonomously and carry out its mission with a click of a button on a computer keypad and mouse
~ targeting pod is located under the aircraft, with both high resolution cameras as well as the latest in Infra Red cameras as well as laser targeting equipment
BAE Systems
Unmanned Air Vehicles
~ the UAV Team is a multidisciplinary team
~ it covers all aspects of technology and design associated with autonomous air systems
~ above includes the ability to rapidly demonstrate new ideas,
~ utilising rapid prototyping facilities and processes
~ it has strong links into the supporting supplier base
~ and into the authorities associated with qualification and clearance
~ it also has the capability to design and test fly demonstrator systems
~ this is to demonstrate UAV capability and technology
~ this activity is centred around a secure assembly and test facility,
~ enabling the team to be co-located around the product
~ The UAV team works closely with all areas of New Business,
~ in particular with the FOAS team in developing and assessing the potential UAV solution for FOAS
~ the team is also considering wider UAV application in the military markets,
~ including ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) application,
~ and in the civil domain
~ a particular focus is the application of technologies to meet this potentially large market
Frost Sullivan UAV Business Raport (pdf)
UAV World
NASA’s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) programme
~ was set to finish with the duration flight of the Helios Prototype
~ Dryden's work with Uninhabited Air Vehicles (UAVs) far from complete
~ Dryden is expected to begin an effort in fiscal year 2004 to complete fuel cell development
~ another key component of the Center's UAV work is to harness a cooperative venture
~ among a group of companies with interests in UAVs,
~ the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense
~ to set standards that will enable UAVs to fly in the same skies with piloted aircraft -
~ still one of the biggest stumbling blocks to opening the UAV frontier
~ development of a regenerative fuel cell would allow it to fly for weeks or months at a time and longer,
~ thereby reducing the costs of missions
~ that deliver a maximum return on investments per flight
~ it also is one of the primary focuses of NASA's new UAV programme
~ NASA said to be imperative that they develop the regenerative fuel cell
~ the regenerative fuel cell would enable sustained flight for months
~ Once shown that capability, people will appreciate solar electric for sub-orbital use,
~ this would provide the ability to stare at space from the sky or the ground for many days,
~ giving you continuous observations
~ people want weather observations; they want to understand the total cycle of a hurricane by monitoring it 24/7
~ UAV could provide records from the earliest creation to landfall
~ this technology would enable a platform for science missions, telecommunications, disaster relief, remote sensing
~ and imaging and also had applications for the U.S. Department of Defense
~ once the platform is readily available, people will find applications for its use that can't yet be envisioned
~ the second element of the new effort in UAV support concerns assimilating UAVs in the national airspace
~ NASA is tasked with the development of a process and a series of recommendations
~ that the FAA could use to certify UAVs to share airspace with commercial aircraft
~ the UAV National Industry Team (UNITE) is a vine that grew from seeds planted during the 10-year, Dryden-led ERAST Programme
~ the contractor group collectively advocates a solution to the certification process,
~ a grey area both for the FAA and for companies wishing to explore broad use of UAVs
~ one of the single biggest inhibitors to operations of UAVs for commercial,
~ civil and military use is the accessibility to the national airspace according to NASA
~ UNITE members - AeroVironment, Aurora Flight Systems, The Boeing Company, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin,
~ Northrop Grumman, and Scaled Composites were unified in their presentation
~ Despite their competition for UAV business,
~ the members share a need for a technological breakthrough in the regenerative fuel cell area
~ and a common need to gain certification for vehicles that will be built or developed.
~ A coalition consisting of Dryden, Ames Research Center, the UNITE group of companies,
~ the Department of Defense and NASA Headquarters is working with FAA assistance on the national requirement
~ as part of a larger NASA plan, called Access 5, calling for high-altitude,
~ long-endurance (HALE) aircraft to be certified within five years
AeroVironment
~ Pointer, AV's Raven, Dragon Eye, Swift, Puma, Wasp solutions
~ Catia 4,
~ Ashlar Graphite 3D modelling,
~ engineers specialize in design for low Reynolds number flight regimes
~ they have wind tunnel testing experience
~ and the ability to use wind tunnel pressure data or computational fluid dynamics software packages like
~ NS network simulator
~ VSAERO to model complex aerostructures
~ company also maintains in-house avionics, flight software, propulsion and systems engineering experience
Science & Applications
~ developed and supplied high-altitude UAVs for atmospheric research and global change observations
~ MarsFlyer project to design and build a UAV that will fly on Mars
~ a half-scale prototype of the MarsFlyer aircraft deployed and flew above 100,000 feet
~ conducted risk reduction studies for a Martian flight and migh have tested a full-size MarsFlyer prototype
~ working on the next generation of high-altitude UAVs for earth and atmospheric research missions
Aerostructures
~ In 1995, Aurora became a key member of the Global Hawk team
~ designed and built all of the tooling for the new, larger version of the Global Hawk
~ WV facility fabricates a variety of metal and composite components for several aircraft,
~ including the E-8C Joint STARS, EA-6B Prowler, E-2C Hawkeye, and F-14 Tomcat
Tactical Systems
~ designs and builds a range of UAV systems to military, law enforcement and homeland security personnel
~ from the backpackable GoldenEye-50 to the high-altitude Orion
DRS
~ Sea OWL isemi-autonomous/autonomous marine craft for real-time
data collection and transmission from ISR missions
Germany & United States collaboration
Small UAV in Kuwait
~ Raven, UAVs from European suppliers
Russia
~ ready to market a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
~ that can be launched by a Smerch multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)
~ to provide targeting data from a distance of 90 kilometers in just four minutes
~ The Splav State Research and Production Association, Tula, which makes the Smerch,
~ developed a UAV that can be fired within a 300mm rocket
~ the 42-kilogram UAV is fitted within an 800-kilogram rocket
~ and can fly over the target area for 30 minutes at an altitude of between 200 and 600 meters
~ carries a TV camera and sensors that transmit imagery and coordinates with the MLRS,
~ which in turn identifies a more precise target location
~ trials shown that it reduces by 25 percent the number of times rockets need to be fired to hit a target
~ three in one: reconnaissance, strike and control
~ so far there have been no domestic or export orders
~ not clear when the system would go into mass production
~ due to financial constraints, it will be hard to market the product to the Russian armed forces
~ the most likely clients the countries that already operate Smerch
~ in service since 1987, Smerch was delivered to Algeria in 1999 and Kuwait in the mid-1990s
~ will allow for better mobility … than a regular UAV that takes time to be mounted on a special launcher
~ apart from Kuwait, Algeria and Russia, India interested in using the UAV to monitor Kashmir
NAIST Unmanned Aerial Vehicle project
~ web page: images
sponsors and partners:
(1) 3W Modellmotoren,Germany
~ provided detailed CAD modeling data for the engines,
~ which was needed to produce an accurate model for determaining flight characteristics of the XB-2 aircraft
(2) Japan Aerospace
~ supported project for display by giving us a 50% discount
(3) busted
~ the engines in the XB-2 come Cactus Aviation of Arizona
~ Cactus Aviation provided in addition to large discounts,
~ advise to help get aircraft designed and built using these types of 3W engines
(4) CADD VAN DU
~ provided more than 600,000 US dollars in research capital,
~ free cad work using Rhino and Solidworks,
~ and lots of technical expertise and avisory.
~ discussed to license the XB-2 aircraft and Vision technology for production in the United States and abroad
(5) Carbon Composited Hawaiji
~ the first carbon sheets in the previous part of the project came from CARB COM of Hawaii
~ provided in the second half of the project with even more discounts than the first half and continued to support requests
(6) busted
(7) Dow Chemical Corporation
~ an ernest supporter of the project for over four years
~ provided advisory assistance and various foam materials for the project
(8) HYTEK Automation,Canada
~ LabVIEW and support USB or DV formats
(9) Miyoshi-Corporation
~ educational discounts for Resins, Vacuum bags and other composite related materials
(10)National Instruments
~ full suite of LabVIEW tools and vision hardware for the project
~ sponsorship brought about 200,000 US dollars worth of equipment to projects VISION technology using NI VISION
~ cut down on development time by 6 months
~ web page: Global Hawk UAV landing gear stroke measurement
(11)OK Model, Japan
~ provided technical advisory support for aircraft construction, aerodynamic analysis,
~ composite construction expertise and aircraft hardware, control and logistics support
~ web page: catalogue
(12)Omni Compsites, USA
~ an agent for Auromat Composites - Columbia in Los Angeles
~ paid 50% of the bill for the auromat materials
(13)PM Mode
Cloudcap Technology ~ software and hardware solutions for the UAV market, Oregon
Aerosonde
MicroPilot ~ UAV autopilot Weight=28g,Inc GPS,Length=10cm,width=4cm
L-3 BAI Aerosystems ~ Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder...
Tactical Aerospace Group ~ VTOL UAV Helicopters
Battlespace Inc, USA ~ UAV operational,maintenance training, mission analysis, concept of operations development
Other competing or complementing companies and products:
Rotomotion
Linux Links
An UAV project
Applied data Systems
New platforms:
~ Dassault Aviation
~ Saab & future UAV products
UAVs, sensors, antennas, hardware, software:
Cyber Defense Systems; micro UAV
Proxity
Cloudcap Technology ~ software and hardware solutions for the UAV market, Oregon
Aerosonde
MicroPilot ~ UAV autopilot Weight=28g,Inc GPS,Length=10cm,width=4cm
L-3 BAI Aerosystems ~ Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder...
Tactical Aerospace Group ~ VTOL UAV Helicopters
Chelton Microwave ~ Embedded UAV Antennas
Battlespace Inc, USA ~ UAV operational,maintenance training, mission analysis, concept of operations development
Power solutions:¨
ξ hydrogen faces competition from electricity specially in smaller UAVS
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