AUVSI is the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems community. Currently, Mr. Toscano serves as the Chairman of the Physical Security Equipment Action Group (PSEAG) and Program Manager for Research and Development for Nuclear Security in the Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters.     

Mr. Toscano succeeds Mr. Daryl Davidson as AUVSI Executive Director. Mr. Davidson has served with AUVSI for the past 20 years and is transferring to a new position as the Executive Director of the AUVSI Foundation, a public charity established to support AUVSI’s Student Competitions and other youth activities. 

"Daryl Davidson has successfully navigated this association through a period of remarkable industry growth and he has built a strong team to serve the AUVSI membership worldwide," said Mr. Dennis Majkowski, President of AUVSI's Board of Directors. "He will be a true asset to the development of the AUVSI Foundation." 

Mr. Majkowski added, "Out of an exceptional pool of candidates, the board was quite pleased to find Mr. Michael Toscano. For nearly two decades, he has been an advocate for this industry and has constantly pursued and promoted usage of unmanned systems. He is, without a doubt, the right person to lead the association forward." 

Since 1990, Mr. Toscano has been a member of the Under Secretary of Defense Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics staff. He coordinated three Department of Defense joint programs:  the Joint Robotics Program from 1990-2003, the PSEAG from 1991-2003 and 2005-present, and the Joint Unexploded Ordnance Detection and Clearance Program from 2001-2003. Mr. Toscano served on the AUVSI Board of Directors from 2003-2005 and was an Advisory Member to the 2002 Naval Research Advisory Committee study on the Roles of Unmanned Vehicles. 

In 1976, Mr. Toscano began his career as a junior engineer supporting the David Taylor Research and Development Center, Annapolis, MD.  In 1979, he joined the Naval Sea Systems Command where he held several key positions culminating in selection to Test and Evaluation engineer for Anti-Submarine Warfare Research and Development programs.   

Mr. Toscano holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. 

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) is the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems community. AUVSI's 6,000 members worldwide come from government organizations, industry and academia. AUVSI is committed to fostering, developing, and promoting unmanned systems and related technologies. 

Contact: Alysa Reich
reich@auvsi.org
+1 703 845 9671 x202

The Edge Command and Control/Hybrid Operations (ECC/HO) week-long exercise was conducted at the Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex, Dam Neck, Va. The exercise was part of the Navy Network Warfare Command's annual TRIDENT WARRIOR 08 technology insertion demonstration and was attended by representatives from numerous Navy commands. 

The ECC/HO exercises consisted of a Tactical Operations Center operator working in conjunction with a mobile Command and Control (C2) unit and soldiers on-the-ground. Control of the sensors on-board the Desert Hawk III unmanned air vehicle and an unmanned surface vehicle was handed-off between ICARUS consoles within the Tactical Operations Center, the mobile C2 unit and soldiers on-the-ground as the mission unfolded. Throughout the live exercise, ICARUS dynamically planned and re-planned vehicle operations to meet task requests, enabling a single operator to play the role of a mission manager. The resulting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products were shared directly by all participants. 

"The success of this demonstration further validates our ICARUS autonomous mission management system concept. We have shown that ICARUS decreases UAS operator workload while enabling control of a team of unmanned assets performing complex missions in dynamically changing environments," said John Clark, Lockheed Martin's ICARUS program manager. 

ICARUS is a technology initiative to increase the autonomy in unmanned vehicles. The initiative is in its sixth year of development, led by the Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works) organization of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., with support from Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Labs.

The Navy and Marines are seeking systems for the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System/Tier II Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS/Tier II UAS) program. A draft RFP was released in June, followed by an Industry Day briefing, with the final RFP expected next month. 

In a posting to the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Naval Air Systems Command said that has changed and "an update to this RFP schedule will be posted in the near future to the PMA-263 website (http://www.navair.navy.mil/pma263/)." 

It's not the first schedule slip for the program, which originally was to have been awarded last year. 

Competitors for the system include a Raytheon/Swift Engineering team, Boeing and its small UAS partner Insitu (which Boeing is acquiring) and could also include AAI corp., BAE Sysems, Aurora Flight Sciences and Arcturus.

The solar powered plane flew for 82 hours 37 minutes, exceeding the current official world record for unmanned flight which stands at 30 hours 24 minutes set by Global Hawk in 2001 and Zephyr's previous longest flight of 54 hours achieved last year. 

The UK Ministry of Defence has funded the development of Zephyr to date and has partnered with the US Department of Defense (DoD) under their Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) Programme - which is designed to move urgently needed technologies rapidly into the hands of US forces in the field. The US DoD funded the demonstration flight under the Programme and this was the first time the two governments have participated in a joint demonstration of a HALE UAV. 

JCTD projects are specially tailored to meet the needs of US combatant commands. Zephyr is supported by USCENTCOM, the combatant command with responsibility for Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Advanced Systems and Concepts (AS&C) and the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). 

Launched by hand, Zephyr is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft. By day it flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon solar arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that cover the aircraft's wings. By night it is powered by rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries, supplied by SION Power Inc, which are recharged during the day using solar power. 

The flight trial at Yuma took place between 28 and 31 July in the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert in mid summer with temperatures up to 45°C (113°F). Zephyr was flown on autopilot and via satellite communications to a maximum altitude of more than 60,000ft. The trial included a military utility assessment of a US Government communications payload. 

Simon Bennett, Managing Director of QinetiQ's Applied Technologies business said: "The Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona was an appropriate setting for Zephyr's world beating flight as many landmark aviation developments have taken place there in recent years. In addition to setting a new unofficial record, the trial is a step towards the delivery of Zephyr's capability for joint, real-time, battlefield persistent surveillance and communications to forces in the field at the earliest opportunity." 

Andrew Baird, Director Defence Technology and Innovation Centre, UK MoD said: "MOD is very pleased with the success of the recent trial which demonstrated the potential capability of the technologies in Zephyr. This success has also reinforced the close working relationship between the UK and US on these key technologies." 

Potential applications for Zephyr include earth observation and communications relay in support of a range of defence, security and civil requirements.

Team Stellar included Stellar Services Ltd., Blue Bear Systems Ltd., Cranfield University, SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems Ltd., TRW Conekt and Marshall Specialist vehicles. Their entry, named SATURN (Sensing & Autonomous Tactical Urban Reconnaissance Network) included a micro air vehicle, a larger unmanned aircraft and an unmanned ground vehicle. 

Team Stellar won the RJ Mitchell Trophy, the top prize in the competition. Additional commendations were given for other teams, including: Team MIRA, which was noted for autonomy; Team Cortex, the judge's merit award; team Swarm, for most innovative idea; and Team Thales for imaginative use of national talent. 

"Our proposed solution SATURN ... exploits innovative threat detection algorithms, intelligent asset management algorithms and image based route guidance systems, all of which have their roots outside of the defense arena," Team Stellar says on a MOD web site. 

Like the similary named contest sponsored in the United States by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.K. Grand Challenge aimed to push the envelope for unmanned systems that could help soldiers, particularly in urban combat situations. 

"Our soldiers, whether engaged in peace support roles or warfighting missions, need to be constantly aware of their surroundings and the situations in which they find themselves. In the urban environment their field of view is limited by buildings and urban clutter. How can you, as an innovator, provide them with a tactical picture, visual or otherwise, in a timescale that meets their needs?" the MOD asked in posing the challenge. 

" ... It is highly desirable for the Grand Challenge to produce an autonomous or semi autonomous system designed to detect, identify, monitor and report the position of a wide range of threats within a complex military urban environment, including within individual buildings." 

Twenty-three teams sought to compete, of which 11 advanced to the final round. The Grand Challenge was held at Copehill Down, a mock urban area on England's Salisbury Plain.

"Today the air defence subunits from among the troops attached as reinforcements to our peacekeeping force downed two Georgian UAVs," Igor Konashenkov, a Russian colonel, told the BBC. "These aircraft were trying to conduct reconnaissance activities over our troops' positions."  

A squabble over the shoot-down of an unmanned aircraft predated the current armed conflict between Russia and its much smaller neighbor, which has two breakaway regions, Ossetia and Abkhazia. 

In April, Georgia complained that Russia had shot down one of its unmanned aircraft over Abkhazia and demanded to be reimbursed. Russia denied involvement, although United Nations observers said it did shoot down the vehicle. Dramatic video of the incident wound up on YouTube. 

In the latest incidents, Russia shot down two Georgian UAVs on Wednesday, Aug. 13, and one Tuesday. Russia had earlier asked Israel to refrain from selling UAVs to Georgia.  

Fighting continues, with hundreds of civilians dead, despite a truce called earlier this week.

Six undergraduate student teams from the United States and Canada competed for three days to navigate a surface-water course with autonomous vehicles built with off-the-shelf components in a competition sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International in Arlington, Va., and the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center's TRANSDEC facility in San Diego. 

Five of six teams qualified for a final run through a course consisting of a starting gate, six pairs of buoys, a floating obstacle and a dock. Placing third in the qualifying runs, the UCF team surged ahead as their autonomous vehicle system, running artificial intelligence on a software stack of tens of thousands of lines of code, blew the competition out of the water. 

"Originally, we were able to navigate through the starting gate, the buoys and return to the staring gate," said Cassondra Puklavage, an undergraduate. "The real problem was finding the dock, so yesterday we practiced to try to find the dock but decided it was too difficult for us." 

Rather, the team decided to take another approach. 

"They give you flashers to look at but we found that the red square on the back was the easiest thing to locate so we went with that—and we successfully docked, luckily on the final run." 

As software experts on the team huddled constantly around laptops to make last-minute readjustments, students spoke of the difficulty of running autonomous surface vehicles dependent on vision-based sensors. 

"The past few days, we've luckily had the best view of the water with our camera," Puklavage said. 

Placing first, the team won $8,000, followed by Florida Atlantic University with $5,000, École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) with $3,000, Embry-Riddle University with $1,500, Villanova University with $1,500, and the University of Michigan with $1,000. 

A seventh team dropped out before the competition, citing "safety reasons" after one engineering student received a mild shock from the water vehicle's power source. 

Among interesting approaches to the challenge, ETS, based in Quebec, brought a heavy software background, placing an emphasis on "system integration." The team competed with a vehicle they'd previously used to participate in the underwater challenge the previous week. 

Speaking of the event's success, judges for the competition noted that all of the teams had traveled from the East Coast of North America with one student from the Quebec team coming from as far away as France.

This particular venue was important to the 4th IARC mission which involved interaction of the aerial robots with buildings (finding, identifying, entering, relaying of information from within). Teams from as far away as India joined others from Canada and the USA at Ft. Benning, Georgia to compete in AUVSI's longest running and most challenging robotics event. 

Collegiate teams built flying robots that are completely autonomous and had to fly a 3km ingress path (Level 1) to find a city where a particular building will be identified along with its openings (Level 2). The aerial robots then had to select an opening and either fly into the building or send in an autonomous sensor probe to search for a particular target and send pictures of the target back 3km to the starting point (Level 3). Level 4 put all of these autonomous aerial robotics behaviors together to perform the entire mission seamlessly in under 15 minutes. 

All levels of our 4th Mission were accomplished independently and sequentially, but in the end, time ran out for the teams before they could demonstrate all of the levels contiguously in under 15 minutes (the requirement for "winner take all"), so the $80,000 in accumulated prize monies over the past 8 years was distributed by the Judges as follows: 

ABES Engineering College - $1,200
California State University - Northridge - $2,200
Embry Riddle/DeVry - $12,200
Georgia Institute of Technology - $27,700 + Most Innovative System 1
Pima College - $5,200
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology - $8,200 + Best Paper, Best T-Shirt, Most Innovative System 2 

Southern Polytechnic Institute & State University - $1,200
University of Arizona - $1,200
University of Waterloo - $3,200 + Best Vehicle
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - $17,700 + Most Innovative System 3 

For more information, go to the competition web site.

The Bedford, Mass.-based company is squaring off against the likes of Canada's Allen-Vanguard to sell robots to police and fire departments and other public safety agencies. With 18,000 police departments across the United States, "we think there's significant market potential there," iRobot's Jim Rymarcsuk tells AUVSI's Unmanned Systems magazine. 

Negotiator's base price is $20,000, compared with a $100,000 bottom line for a military PackBot, according to Rymarcsuk, who is the vice president of sales, marketing and alliances for iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots Division. 

"Our expertise is in marketing reliable, low-cost, well-supported robots," he says. "We've delivered over 1,600 [PackBots] to the U.S. military around the world. We have built up a line of expertise, making reliable, production-quality type robots." 

Negotiator will be built in a separate production facility at the company's Mysore, India, facility to cut costs. iRobot says first responders have asked for an affordable, basic reconnaissance robot, and that's the market the company aims at with Negotiator. It will carry an audio and video communications system and can also use other reconnaissance and chemical detection packages. 

It weighs 25 to 35 pounds, depending on how it's configured, and can be transported in the back of a police squad car. Negotiator also has a simplified joystick control system. 

"We are putting the full weight of iRobot behind this product, offering excellent production, quality and service," says Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots. "Negotiator will play a significant role in helping to resolve situations successfully, while keeping public safety professionals at safe distances." 

Rymarcsuk says Negotiator will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. The company is focusing on the U.S. market first but could begin international sales as early as next year. 

Negotiator had been marketed by a former iRobot engineer, Jameel Ahed, who initially won the U.S. Army's $285 million xBot contract with the vehicle. iRobot sued him and won, saying he was using the company's trade secrets to marketing his own vehicle. 

iRobot was awarded the Army contract and the rights to Negotiator.

In just their second attempt, students from the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering took first prize at AUVSI and the Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s 11th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, held July 29-Aug. 3 in San Diego, California. 

Twenty-five teams from around the world competed in this year's event, held at the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center's TRANSDEC Facility. In the final event, autonomous underwater vehicles had to dead-reckon about 50 feet through a starting gate, follow a pipeline, dock with a buoy, track and hover over an acoustic "pinger," and grab an object and carry it to a floating ring. 

The Robotics@Maryland team faced some tough challenges along the way, according to the school’s web site. "Despite losing our main vehicle computer, busting a thruster propeller, temporarily losing our firewire cameras and watching three team members' laptops die—including mine—the group worked together and handled each problem in turn," says Joseph Gland, the graduate student advisor for the team. 

The rankings and awards:
1) University of Maryland - $7,000
2) University of Texas at Dallas - $5,000
3) École de technologie supérieure - $3,000
4) University of Florida - $2,000
5) United States Naval Academy - $1,000
6) University of Victoria
7) Cornell University
8) Florida Atlantic University
9) Delhi College of Engineering
10) San Diego City College 

In addition, these competitors received $500 and the following awards:
Best New Entry (University of Colorado)
Most Improved (Delhi College of Engineering)
Tupperware Use Award (University of Wisconsin)
Persistence in Adversity (University of Ottawa)
Innovation Award (Norwich University) 

The teams had to develop fully autonomous vehicles that could carry out the simulated missions with no remote operation. 

"This competition is about more than the incredible technological expertise of the competitors, it's about teamwork and camaraderie across team lines," said Daryl Davidson, Executive Director of AUVSI. "Nothing is top secret here, all of the students come to win, but they see the course as their rival, not the other teams. They talk, they share ideas, they help each other ... it's remarkable." 

Final Standings:
1 - University of Maryland
2 - University of Texas at Dallas
3 - École de technologie supérieure
4 - University of Florida
5 - United States Naval Academy
6 - University of Victoria
7 - Cornell University
8 - Florida Atlantic University
9 - Delhi College of Engineering
10 - San Diego City College
11 - San Diego iBotics
12 - University of Ottawa
13 - Amador Valley High School
14 - Southern Methodist University
15 - University of Southern California
16 - Georgia Tech
17 - University of Alberta
18 - University of Colorado at Boulder
19 - Kyushu Institute of Technology
20 - Universite Laval
21 - Southern Polytechnic State University
22 - University of West Florida
23 - University of Wisconsin
24 - North Carolina State University
25 - Norwich University 

For more information about the final standings and technical details of the competition, please visit: http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm 

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) is the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems community. AUVSI's 6,000 members worldwide come from government organizations, industry and academia. AUVSI is committed to fostering, developing, and promoting unmanned systems and related technologies.

Hosted by AUVSI and ONR, the brightest engineering minds for the future of maritime technologies will come together for the first time at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Point Loma, CA to compete for cash prizes. 

A course has been created for the 2008 competition in SSC San Diego's historic, 40 foot deep Transducer Evaluation Center (TRANSDEC) Pool. To qualify for the competition, each team must design and build an ASV capable of navigating realistic maritime missions. For the competition, those missions include passing through a starting gate and steering a steady course, navigating between buoys, detecting and eliminating shore bound threats, docking and recovering a victim. 

Open to the public and free of charge, spectators are invited to watch as students prepare their vehicles and take on the challenging course.  

The event schedule is:       
Friday, August 8 – 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Saturday, August 9 – 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM 

The following is a roster of participating teams: 

Embry-Riddle University, USA
Florida Atlantic University, USA
Ecole de Technologie Superieure, CANADA
University of Central Florida, USA
University of Michigan, USA
Villanova University, USA 

For more information on the event, the competition mission or the teams, visit http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/surface.cfm.

The E.U. ruled to provide a pan-European bandwidth that would allow the industry to outfit new vehicles with existing technology, creating such a system by 2010 or 2011. 

With the system in place, a vehicle might automatically detect traffic congestion or even a slippery path in the road, forwarding the information to other vehicles in the vicinity. The E.U. says the system would help to reduce traffic congestion, a drag on the economy, but would also reduce the toll of 42,000 traffic deaths per year. 

The decision marks a milestone in the automation of the automobile.

The competition is organized and co-sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the U.S. Office of Naval Research. 

The University of Maryland, a second year team, enters the finals in first place. 

Current standings going into the finals:
1 - University of Maryland - final run time is 2:30 p.m.
2 - University of Texas at Dallas - final run time is 2:00 p.m.
3 - École de technologie supérieure - final run time is 1:30 p.m.
4 - University of Florida - final run time is 1:00 p.m.
5 - University of Victoria - final run time is 12:30 p.m.
6 - United States Naval Academy - final run time is 12:00 p.m.
7 - Cornell University - final run time is 11:00 a.m.
8 - Florida Atlantic University - final run time is 11:30 a.m.  

The finals will be available to view via webcast today from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. PDT. This is a change from the previous times due to the unexpected large number of teams making the final cut. Please visit http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm for more details.

More than 200 students from 25 schools will be participating in this year's competition. Each team was challenged to design and build an AUV capable of navigating realistic underwater missions. Find out which team does the best this Sunday!

"With the MQ-1 (Predator) and the MQ-9, you can hunt down a target; you can stare at a target; you can fix his location, and if you need to, you can destroy that target," said Lt. Col. Micah Morgan, commander of the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron here. "You're always overhead, always watching, always aware."  

The 46th ERAS is the first unit in Iraq to fly Reapers. It's also the first squadron in the Air Force to fly combat missions with both the Reaper and the Predator, Colonel Morgan said.  

The long-loiter capability allows unmanned aircraft systems' pilots to establish a high degree of situational awareness, Colonel Morgan said.  

"When fighters are checking in, dropping weapons, checking out and going to get gas, we're still there," he said. "We're overhead and still supporting the ground commander."  

The principal difference between the Reaper and its predecessor is a 3,750-pound weapon payload that can include GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, Hellfire missiles or a combination thereof. The variable weapon loadout allows Reapers to deliver small warheads that minimize collateral damage on the ground as well or larger munitions that can destroy hardened targets.  

"The Predator was built as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset, and then they added the weapons on later," Colonel Morgan said. "The Reaper was built around being both a hunter and a killer. That's one of the things that makes it such an effective weapon -- its onboard camera and sensors make it a great hunter, and the 3,750 pounds of weapons makes it a great killer."  

Operational experience with the Predator has already proven the intelligence value of "persistent stare," said Brig. Gen. Brian Bishop, commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing here.  

"The Reaper, on the other hand, moves beyond that to solidly stake its claim in the realm of persistent strike," General Bishop said. "The Reaper provides a mix of capability that is uniquely suited to the situations we find ourselves facing in Iraq. Where traditional fighter aircraft can only loiter over an area for a few hours, the Reaper can stay overhead for extended periods and deliver a devastating blow at the precise time and place our servicemembers on the ground need it most."  

Beyond the capabilities envisioned in the design and production of the Reaper and Predator, years of experience employing remotely piloted aircraft in combat over Afghanistan and Iraq have led Airmen to develop new tactics and techniques that make unmanned systems an indispensable part of the new joint fight, General Bishop said.  

"Airmen across the globe operate as a synchronized team in the warfighting domains of air, space and cyberspace to save lives in ways we never thought possible before the advent of unmanned systems," he said.  

Colonel Morgan provided an example. He was flying a sortie over a combat zone, and the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs supporting the Joint Terminal Attack Controller had to leave to refuel.  

"They told the JTAC, 'We're bingo (fuel), we're out, we're going to get gas," Colonel Morgan said. "The JTAC's yelling, 'No, no, no, I need bombs on target.' The A-10s at the time couldn't call back to anyone else ... Well, I'm overhead, and because my cockpit is on the ground, I've got telephones, and I've got computers."  

From his cockpit -- at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. -- Colonel Morgan picked up a phone and called the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia. He told the controllers there that a JTAC in the field needed additional close-air support.  

"The controller replies back, 'Copy, I'm ordering two A-10s to your location,'" Colonel Morgan said. Via his aircraft's uplink, he informed the JTAC that air support is on its way.  

"It's a great capability when you can put a pilot in a cockpit that's on the ground, put the aircraft thousands of miles away, and then give the ability to see what he sees to practically everybody who has a Secure Internet Protocol Router Network computer and a connection," he said.  

While pilots in the United States can fly Reapers after they're airborne, crews here must still see the aircraft safely into the air and back onto the ground. Each crew consists of a pilot, sensor operator and intelligence mission coordinator.  

"We call those three our crew, but really, they're just the backbone of the system," Colonel Morgan said. "Behind the scenes, you have numerous agencies out there that are processing the video, studying the video ... plus you have a very large communication structure when you talk about using satellites and fiber optics. There are a lot of other people out there who make this work."  

The local crew for the Reaper's first combat mission in Iraq included Maj. Jon Chesser as pilot, Senior Master Sgt. Ralph Goodwater as sensor operator and Senior Airman Elizabeth Cooper as intelligence mission coordinator. All three are deployed from the 42nd Attack Squadron at Creech AFB.  

Airman Cooper has seen the Reaper grow from a promising weapons system to one that's delivered on its promises. She arrived at Creech in January 2007, and the first Reapers landed there in March.  

"We got our first plane, started up our first flight training unit and got the students spun up and graduated," she said. "The first class then turned into instructors, and we started pushing classes and got our plane downrange to support Operation Enduring Freedom in October."  

She said seeing the Reaper taxi out of a hangar in Iraq for the first time was exciting.
"I have to say, I got a little choked up when I watched the wheels take off last night -- I did," she said. "We worked extremely hard ... it was very rewarding to see it take off."

"We continue to expand VideoScout's capabilities to help those closest to the fight create intelligent video to improve situational awareness and mission success," said Larry Vernec, senior vice president of marketing and strategic business development at L-3 Advanced Products & Design. "This new release allows customers integrating VideoScout-Flex into their INTEL workstations, as well as forward VideoScout-MC mobile laptop users, to get more value out of the vast amount of video and metadata they receive." 

VideoScout version 3.3 provides a new picture in picture capability to pause and identify areas of special interest in one window, while monitoring real-time video and metadata simultaneously in another window. Video and metadata can be recorded at the same time, providing an archive for future search, retrieval and exploitation. 

Improved image enhancement features provide users with a side by side comparison between an original image and an enhanced version. Users can employ edge sharpening, pixel enhancement and image point magnification tools to improve an image for viewing, dissemination and archiving. Additionally, users can normalize the light/dark content of video and images in live mode as well.  

A new pan on video feature has been added to allow users to drag the cursor over a video image to quickly zoom in on an area of interest, while simultaneously monitoring the original video window. In addition, chalkboard tools such as draw, symbology, freehand, color, line and text change are now provided to improve video, segment and snapshot annotation.  

L-3 AP&D also recently launched a new lighter weight, tablet-style VideoScout-MC laptop with integrated L, S and C band receiver options. VideoScout-MC is designed for forward personnel who need to capture, exploit and manage video and metadata received directly from UAVs and ISR sensors while remaining on the move.

After a week of installation and integration activities, PicoSAR flew successfully on the 30th June near the Schiebel production facility in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The trial focused on the Synthetic Aperture Radar capability of the PicoSAR and enabled the mapping of the surrounding area.  The CAMCOPTER S-100 operated at altitudes up to 3,000 ft and PicoSAR was controlled via the datalink from the ground with imagery transmitted successfully back to the ground station. 

This is a significant achievement and SELEX Galileo is delighted to have made the transition from operating the radar on manned platforms to this leading edge UAV.   

"UAVs are here to stay," said Steve Marlow, Vice President Surveillance Radar, SELEX Galileo, "and adding sensors like PicoSAR will vastly increase their utility. We are really pleased to have achieved this significant milestone in the PicoSAR's development with Schiebel, as the CAMCOPTER S-100 is clearly a leader in this class of Tactical UAVs."   

"The PicoSAR is a radically different sensor, bringing the benefits of E-Scan radar to UAVs like ours," said Hans Schiebel, Managing Director. Schiebel said, "The CAMCOPTER S-100 is generating a great deal of interest around the world, and we see the addition of this long range, wide area, all weather surveillance capability as a real discriminator, particularly as its size and weight enables the installation and operation of an EO/IR system at the same time. 

"The CAMCOPTER S-100 is a 21st Century platform, and successfully bringing it together with the 21st Century PicoSAR sensor capability will deliver real advantage to our customers."

Boeing and Insitu have partnered since 2002 and together developed the successful ScanEagle UAS program, which has more than 100,000 operational flight hours with the U.S. Department of Defense and international customers. Insitu's key technologies and advanced capabilities in rapid prototyping and manufacturing are driving its revenue to an anticipated $150 million this year, 70 percent higher than in 2007, and have it well positioned for the future.  

"Increasingly our customers are seeking advanced unmanned aerial solutions to address a wide range of requirements for ISR missions," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "The Boeing-Insitu team has been successfully delivering much-needed capability to the warfighter in a changing threat environment. Bringing these outstanding teams together will accelerate deployment of the next generation of unmanned systems to our U.S. and allied service members."  

Terms of the cash transaction were not disclosed. This transaction, anticipated to close by the end of September following regulatory approvals, does not affect Boeing's financial guidance. Once acquired, Insitu will be a separate subsidiary under Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' Military Aircraft unit. It will retain an independent operating model while benefiting from Boeing's vast resources.  

"This acquisition is part of a larger plan to aggressively grow our presence in the unmanned systems market," said Chris Chadwick, president, Boeing Military Aircraft. "We look forward to building upon our existing relationship with Insitu to deliver industry-leading tactical unmanned systems and services to our customers."  

Founded in 1994 as an entrepreneurial start-up, Insitu, located in Bingen, Wash., designs, develops and manufactures UAS for commercial and military applications. It built the first UAS to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and today has approximately 360 employees.  

"This agreement allows us to leverage the breadth and strength of Boeing to get our organization to the next level," said Steven Sliwa, president and CEO of Insitu. "At the same time, it allows us to retain the unique culture and environment that have driven the continuous innovation and entrepreneurial agility that have us positioned as a leader in our market."

Though the government has yet to release the award, Ottawa confirmed today that it would spend $100 million to lease UAS from MacDonald Dettweiler and Associates (MDA), of Canada, and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), who had offered a system based on IAI's Heron vehicle. 

Anne Healey, executive director of AUVSI-Canada, expressed approval of the choice. "Canada is a world leader in uninhabited and autonomous capabilities," she said. "The safety and security of the men and women of the Canadian Forces serving in this mission will be greatly enhanced with the application of unmanned systems technology." 

In the bidding for the government contract, the Heron UAS beat the Hermes 450 vehicle built by L-3 Communications of Canada and Elbit Systems of Israel. The lease is under Canada's Noctua (Latin for "owl") program, which is part of a broader push to modernize Canada's UAS fleet.

The one-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, with four one-year options, has a maximum value of $200,000,000, and provides for the purchase of aircraft, ground control systems, spares, repairs and training under a combination firm fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost reimbursable arrangement. The initial delivery order is valued at $6 million and is fully funded. 

The hand-launched Puma AE lands near-vertically on both land and water and is equipped with a day- and night-capable, waterproof sensor package that provides image tracking, image stabilization and high-image quality. Puma AE systems incorporate the same hand-held Ground Control Unit used by U.S. Department of Defense and allied military customers to control Raven and Wasp systems. Ship-based use of Puma AE requires no modification to naval vessels, enabling easy integration into maritime operations. The AECV program represents the fourth U.S. Department of Defense full and open competition for a small UAS program of record, and the fourth such competition won by AV. 

"AV responded to a USSOCOM requirement for a hand-launched UAS. We are pleased to be chosen to deliver these capabilities into the hands of warfighters with a new, more capable third generation version of our Puma," said John Grabowsky, AV executive vice president and general manager of unmanned aircraft systems. "Puma AE joins Raven and Wasp in AV's product portfolio, delivering a powerful new solution for land and ship-based, over-the-horizon intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," Grabowsky added. 

U.S. armed forces including the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and USSOCOM, as well as international forces such as those of Italy, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands, use AV's hand-launched UAS for missions that include base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning, battle damage assessment and force protection. The U.S. Army has reported that Army Raven UAS were flown for approximately 150,000 combat hours in 2007. AV has delivered more than 10,000 small unmanned aircraft to date, including Raven, Wasp and Puma.

After digging a trench to take soil samples, the vehicle experienced a data overload and failed to save its new data to flash memory. Though any loss of science represents a setback, scientists said the data loss was not crucial. The malfunction followed an earlier discovery of a white chalky substance below the surface on the planet, which NASA said might be salt or even ice. As Phoenix digs deeper in search of ice, the vehicle will now send data immediately back to earth via two orbiting vehicles, rather than making one transmission at the end of the day. 

The unmanned space vehicle has another 60 days or so to work before the planet's climate freezes and shuts down its mission.

Athena Technologies, a subsidiary of Rockwell Collins of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, conducted the second of a series of test flights sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 

At the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, the company conducted a test flight in which they ejected 60 percent of the aircraft’s right wing to simulate either missile damage or mechanical failure. Upon ejection, the company’s Automatic Supervisory Adaptive Control technology made adjustments to continue to fly the aircraft, landing it autonomously. 

Mike Myers, vice president of business development for the company, says the unmanned technology worked perfectly, performing a feat that would have been untenable for a manned aircraft. 

“We are pleased with the ability of our adaptive controls to instantly detect and react to the new vehicle configuration after loss of major sections of the wing,” Myers says. “The technology enabled the airplane to continue to fly completely autonomously without a hitch and land without further damage.” 

Aside from military applications in unmanned aerial vehicles, the new technology presents implications for manned aircraft, too, says David Vos, Ph.D., senior director of control technologies at Rockwell Collins. 

“This demonstration highlights the challenge and importance of autonomously controlling and landing an airplane that has sustained catastrophic damage or failure in flight.” 

The technology could also one day eliminate the need to send rescue helicopters to recover downed pilots and sensitive military equipment from hostile territory.

Ecuador announced this week it would buy a half-dozen Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol its borders for incursions from Columbian rebels, Defense Minister Javier Ponce told the Associated Press. The purchase follows earlier acquisitions of manned aircraft this year in their attempt to improve border security. 

Though the small Andean nation remains hopeful about future relations with the Columbia government, Ponce and other officials consider the leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia to be a threat. 

“We are not able to impede the establishment of guerilla camps or drug labs but, to the degree that we have been dismantling a series of labs and camps, we are establishing a certain capacity to prevent this from getting out of control,” Ponce said on Tuesday. 

Ecuador broke official relations with the Columbian government after their forces made an incursion across the border to bomb a rebel encampment, which also disrupted the smaller nation’s military radar. 

Though Ponce disclosed the value of the manned aircraft acquisition at $270 million, he declined to specify how much the country paid for the UAVs and whether they planned to arm them for offensive actions.

Like similar American-built systems, the aircraft takes off and lands vertically. The vehicle has a diameter of 1.2 meters and flies at a maximum altitude of 1,000 meters, Xinhua news agency said this week. 

Driven by a propeller, the unmanned vehicle boasts a top speed of 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour. The aircraft maker spent $4.1 million during the past 12 years to develop the prototype disc, which is intended for aerial photography, geological surveys and, the news agency says, emergency lighting.