Royal Navy uncrewed aircraft trial marks European first
UK flight test sees largest unmanned aircraft take off from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier.
DroneSeed has signed a contract with The Nature Conservancy to support the replanting of native species with advanced technologies in sagebrush habitat, the company announced on 20 February.
The contract will see the use of UAS swarms to restore the rangelands affected by invasive species and re-seed native plants and endangered species, such as the sage-grouse.
The Nature Conservancy access will use swarm technology that has been designed to scale to plant and protect significant acreage while planting in precision areas.
The aircraft operate in swarms of up to five UAS and as a group service greater area faster despite of terrain. To provide precision seeding, the company uses software to aerially deploy seed vessels to targeted areas, called microsites. To service significant acreage, DroneSeed's heavy lift aircraft carry 57lb of seed vessels per UAS. These vessels improve seed survival by reducing desiccation.
DroneSeed will be aerially deploying its seed vessels and vessels developed by The Nature Conservancy and its partners.
DroneSeed is said to be the first and only company approved by the FAA to operate with swarms of up to five aircraft weighing more than 55lb.
Jay Kerby, Southeast Oregon project manager at The Nature Conservancy, said: ‘For this project, we will be mapping about 75 acres of sagebrush habitat with scattered weed patches that are inefficient to target and treat with conventional methods. We are always looking for ways to innovate, especially when it can help us increase the pace and scale of habitat restoration to benefit both nature and people.’
UK flight test sees largest unmanned aircraft take off from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier.
CATIC have displayed its new AR-2000 drone at Dubai Airshow 2023, emphasising ship-based capabilities with PLA already purchasing.
Australia has ordered four Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAS which can operate as an uncrewed maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) alongside the country’s in-service Boeing P-8A MPA fleet.
The Khronos tethered UAS has been designed to be simple to use and has drawn on Elistair’s experience with hundreds of existing customers.
The use of long-duration Uncrewed Surface Vehicles for maritime surveillance and monitoring has become part of the fleet inventory as navies try to reduce the level of effort required to gather intelligence on areas of interest.
A growing number of uncrewed systems have been on show at Sydney's Indo-Pacific Maritime exhibition with a select few currently being trialled to see if they can enhance the Royal Australian Navy's surveillance levels.