An image of what is purported to be a prototype of Russia’s Okhotnik (Hunter) ‘heavy unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)’ began to circulate in Russian social media on 23 January, followed by three more images the next day.
The UK is to field ‘swarming drones’ to confuse and overwhelm enemy air defences by the end of this year, the Secretary of State for Defence said on 11 February.
In the 2001 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress set an objective of increasing the number of remote-controlled and unmanned systems in service with the US Army. The goal was that by 2015 a third of operational ground combat vehicles would be unmanned. However, this goal was not met. Scott Alexander reports
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science Technologies (KACST) is testing a helicopter it has recently converted into an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the company’s general director for Special Programs Affairs, Dr Khaled Alhussan, told Jane’s at the inaugural Saudi Airshow held at Al-Thumamah Airport from 12 to 14 March
Announced at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford in Gloucestershire, the RAF’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) awarded three contracts to develop a technology demonstrator, named Project ‘Mosquito’, to explore the addition of unmanned ‘loyal wingman’ capabilities onto fast jets.
South Korea will invest KRW88 billion (USD74 million) to develop a laser-based anti-aircraft weapon system, according to a 17 September statement by the country’s Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA).
The US Air Force plans to invest heavily over the next five years on digital architecture and both offensive and defensive space capabilities
The service wants to move to a model where decisions are made at machine speed and connectivity is emphasised over platforms