Joseph Meola of Air Force Research Labs conducting measurements on laser light bounced back from various samples placed a mile away on the ground from a prototype laser at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Image credit: Anthony Absi, Air Force ...
DARPA Wants a New X-plane that can Hover
DARPA’s new X-plane VTOL illustration Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced earlier this week that it is interested in developing an experimental program that will be able to take off and hover like a helicopter but fly like an ...
A Plane That Lands like a Bird
A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has recently demonstrated an innovative landing control system that allows planes to land similarly to birds. Since this method allows quick changes of speed and fast landings, it might ...
MIT Delivers Green Airplane Designs to NASA
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working in conjunction with Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and Pratt & Whitney recently presented two designs for greener airplanes to NASA. The result of a contract awarded in 2008, the ...
Global Hawk Autonomous Aircraft
NASA and the Northrop Grumman Corporation have recently unveiled a new unmanned aircraft system named Global Hawk. It is the world’s first fully autonomous high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft designed for environmental science research and features unprecedented flight time and altitude capabilities. ...
Ares Super-Chute Tests
NASA and the United States Air Force have successfully tested a new super-chute system aimed at reclaiming reusable Ares booster rockets. On February 28, 2009 a 50,000 pound dummy rocket booster was dropped in the Arizona desert and stopped by ...
American Dynamics’ AD-150 UAV
American Dynamics Flight Systems, a US-based company that focuses on the development of innovative aerospace and defense systems, has recently unveiled its “AD-150” – a novel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). According to the ...
Boeing’s New Stealth F-15
Boeing unveiled a new version of its F-15 Eagle airplane, called the F-15SE, which is aimed primarily for export. The new design includes several improvements over earlier versions of the F-15, including improved stealth capabilities and a bay designed for ...
Super Quiet UAVs on the Way
Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in Atlanta are working on ways to reduce the noise made by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs are playing an ever increasing role in military surveillance and reconnaissance missions and these vehicles ...
Airborne Laser Fire Control Test
US Missile Defense personnel at Edwards Air Force Base in California have successfully tested the Lockheed Martin Beam Control/Fire Control system in conjunction with the High Energy Laser mounted on a modified Boeing 747-400F airplane. Together, these components form the ...