P-8 Poseidon oppdatering

Undertegnede var i akkurat denne produksjonshallen for å se på P-8I ble bygget, altså den Indiske utgaven. Det var i oktober 2011.

Boeing Gets $2 Billion for 13 More P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft


Employees work to complete three P-8As at Boeing's Installation and Check Out facility at Boeing Field in Seattle. The aircraft are modified versions of the basic Boeing 737 passenger jetliner.

WASHINGTON - A major $2 billion contract award has assured continued production of the P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft at Boeing's facilities in Renton, Wash.

The award, announced Wednesday, is for 13 low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot IV aircraft for the US Navy, along with 13 mission equipment sets and long-lead parts for the manufacture of 16 full-rate production Lot I aircraft.

The aircraft are funded in fiscal 2013 procurement monies.

A total of 117 P-8As will replace the current fleet of P-3C Orion aircraft.

So far, nine LRIP aircraft have been delivered to the fleet, along with six test aircraft delivered to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

The program passed its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) requirement July 1, meaning the aircraft was found to be "operationally effective, operationally suitable, and ready for fleet introduction," according to NAVAIR.

As part of the test phase, a P-8A successfully launched a Harpoon AGM-84D Block IC missile on June 24 at a target on the Point Mugu Sea Test Range off the California coast.

Completion of IOT&E, NAVAIR said in a press release, keeps the P-8A program on track for an initial operational deployment this winter when the first P-8A squadron will deploy with P-3 and EP-3 Aries squadrons.

Helikopterhavari igjen - Etiopia

Det står ikke noe om helikoptertype, men FN bruker mest russiskbygde Mi-8

Helicopter heading for UN use crashes near Ethiopia’s capital; injuries reported

By Associated Press, Thursday, August 1, 4:13 AM

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A helicopter en route to South Sudan for use by the U.N. World Food Program crashed in Ethiopia on Wednesday, injuring several people on board, officials said.

The helicopter crashed in the town of Debre Zeit, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside Addis Ababa, said Dina Mufti, the spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dina said there were multiple injuries but he had no further details.

Ethiopian officials said U.N. personnel were on board, but U.N. officials said it wasn’t clear whether any U.N. staffers were on the helicopter.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the helicopter was en route to South Sudan for use by WFP in Jonglei, which has been the scene of recent fighting. Haq said the helicopter was owned by Russian company PANH Helicopters.

Ethiopia’s state-run news agency, citing the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, reported that two Russian-made helicopters were traveling from Djibouti to Addis Ababa on their way to South Sudan.

It said one helicopter crashed with four people on board, including two pilots.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Amrikansk flyskole stengt av EASA

 Ormond Beach aviation school loses license, closes


ORMOND BEACH - A flight school at the Ormond Beach Municipal Airport that specialized in training European pilots has closed after its license was revoked.

The Euro American School of Aviation closed after its certificate was suspended and then revoked by the European Aviation Safety Agency, the aviation governing body in Europe similar to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A memo published on the school's website from president Adrian Thompson said the school would try to complete flying programs for current customers but had ceased to accept new business and will refund any contracts not fulfilled.

A phone message and email sent to Thompson were not returned.

Michael Justiniano, who recently came from Norway to the U.S. to get a pilot's license, told The News-Journal it wasn't until he arrived in Ormond Beach that he was told the school lost its license to teach European classes as early as April.

"We should have been told this before we applied for visas and the cost of tickets and the school," he said, adding he spent about $4,000 to get to Ormond Beach before flying back to Norway.

In the note on the school's website, Thompson wrote that the European Aviation Safety Agency is "hell bent" on closing down overseas operations in an effort to drive up costs for private and commercial licenses.

"You have been warned," he wrote to competing aviation schools.

An email to the agency was not returned.

Steve Lichliter, manager for Ormond Beach's airport, said the new European safety agency rolled out more stringent regulations, and the Ormond school was having difficulty complying with those standards. He speculated that other flight training programs throughout the state may be having similar issues.

"I imagine they're all dealing with this problem," he said.

Nick Mayhew, general manager for Bristow Academy in Titusville, said officials there are working to meet standards set forth by Europe's safety agency.

"Some of it has been a bit demanding," he said.

It appears the local school's flights are grounded for now, Lichliter said. The company is still a tenant at the airport and is providing fuel and other services in the meantime.

Thompson wrote that the school would be appealing the "unlawful and arbitrary action" by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

SAR - Redningshelikoptrene på beredskap for Forsvaret

Merk deg at da kan redningshelikoptrene brukes i transportøymed. Senere vil de også kunne brukes som våpenplatform.

Marinejegerkommandoen på beredskap fra i dag

Fra i dag er Marinejegerkommandoen (MJK) på beredskap. Dette gjør at de raskt ville kunne bistå politiet i løsningen av kontraterror-oppgaver, og at Forsvarets egen beredskap blir styrket.

Regjeringen har siden 22. juli 2011 jobbet iherdig med å forbedre den nasjonale beredskapen. Mange tiltak har vært igangsatt, og beredskapen er betydelig styrket på mange områder.
- I dag går Marinejegerkommandoen på nasjonal beredskap. Dette innebærer at de i løpet av kort tid skal kunne settes inn både som bistand til politiet og ved behov for rask militær inngripen, sier forsvarsminister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen.

Forsvarsminister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen og forsvarssjef Harald Sunde sammen med spesialstyrkesoldater fra FSK og MJK (Torbjørn Kjosvold, FMS)

Marinejegerne er eksperter på maritime oppgaver som for eksempel bording av skip, men de er mest av alt høyt utdannede soldater som kan settes inn i en hvilken som helst operasjon. Avdelingen har vært i Afghanistan flere ganger og har opparbeidet seg betydelig kompetanse og erfaring fra sine oppdrag der. De har også deltatt i operasjonen i Adenbukta for å bekjempe piratvirksomhet.

- Avdelingen feirer sitt 60-års jubileum i år. Det er altså en tradisjonsrik og erfaren avdeling som nå settes på beredskap, sier Strøm-Erichsen.

Operatører fra MJK støtter fregatten KNM Fridtjof Nansen i Adenbukta (Eskil Sivertsen, FD)

Avdelingen har i dag hovedsete på Haakonsvern, men har også treningsbase ved Ramsund. I tillegg til marinejegerne er også Forsvarets spesialkommando (FSK) på beredskap. Både FSK og MJK øver med politiet for å sikre seg at man raskt og effektivt kan løse oppdragene.

 Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen sammen med sjef MJK Tom Robertsen ved Haakonsvern marinebase (foto: FD).

UAV - Det er ingen grenser for fantasien... Men hva kan det brukes til?

Jeg har fått noen bemerkninger om at jeg konsentrerer meg for mye om UAV`er. Vel, dersom en ser på de enkelte felt innen flygingens utvikling i dag, så er det dette feltet jeg opplever som mest innovativt og spennende. Artikkelen under skulle støtte det mener jeg. Du MÅ sjekke videoen som følger med. Utviklingen er naturligvis hemmet av at det ikke tillates å fly i kontrollert luftrom. Nå er det demonstrert gang på gang at sense-and-avoid funker i disse innretningene. Hvorfor tar det så lang tid?

Sjekk video her: http://tinyurl.com/pbqvqa7

3D-Printed Unmanned Copters Can Join Together

Posted on August 1, 2013 by The Editor

A research team in Zürich has created a flock of helicopter robots that can detect each others’ positions and join together to create a larger flying machine.

The Distributed Flight Array (DFA) has been developed by a team of researchers at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC) at ETH Zürich university in Switzerland.

Each robot has a 3D-printed hexagonal plastic chassis with magnets fixed to the sides of the frame and a single propeller fitted in the middle.

Independently, the honeycomb-shaped robots fly in an erratic and uncontrolled way. However, the robots are able to detect each other, link to form a bigger craft and then fly in a controlled manner as a single unit. The task of keeping the multi-propeller system in flight is distributed across the network of vehicles.

Each independent module exchanges information with the others and uses sensors to determine how much thrust it needs for the array to take off and maintain flight.

“The Distributed Flight Array is a flying platform consisting of multiple autonomous single propeller vehicles that are able to drive, dock with their peers and fly in a coordinated fashion,” explains the IDSC. “Once in flight the array hovers for a few minutes, then falls back to the ground, only to repeat the cycle again.”

“If the array’s levelled flight is disturbed, each vehicle individually determines the amount of thrust required to correct for the disturbance based on its position in the array and the array’s motion,” IDSC said.

The project has been developed for two reasons, Maximilian Kriegleder from the IDSC told Dezeen: as a research platform for distributed control and estimation, and as an artistic installation that could illustrate such control of robots to members of the public.

“The platform currently flies with either joystick input from an user or input from an external sensor system such as GPS. We are trying to close this gap and make the system completely self-contained and autonomous so that no external input is needed,” Kriegleder told Dezeen.

Although the project was not designed for a specific purpose, Kriegleder suggests that the technology could be used for transportation systems. ”The developed algorithms apply to any real systems that needs to be scalable and distributed,” Kriegleder told Dezeen. ”One specific example could be a scalable mass transportation system, where one only adds so many modules that a certain payload could be lifted.”

The DFA project was launched in 2008 as a postgraduate class at ETH Zürich university and is being continued by Dr. Raymond Oung as his PhD project

- See more at: http://www.uasvision.com/2013/08/01/3d-printed-unmanned-copters-can-join-together/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=f63e318e75-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_799756aeb7-f63e318e75-297533037#sthash.fTfyUAk0.dpuf

UAV konferanse UK

16MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER

Unmanned Aviation: Challenges for Growth The UASSG Annual Conference this year provides a timely  focus on the successes already accomplished in getting to a European Remotely Piloted Aircraft system (RPAS) Roadmap covering all 27 member states, developed by the European  RPAS Steering Group.  Importantly where European Union  leads, many other nations follow, either directly or guided by its successes and failures. Following a full stop in the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in America over two years ago, the European Roadmap for UAS growth is set fair.  However, with a  timeframe stretching out to 2028 there is much that has to  happen still for the European UAS industry to emerge into a  more secure and sustainable future. The United Kingdom continues to play a significant part in the shaping of the context within which the UAS market is growing.  With significant experience gained by the Royal Air Force and  the Army in their operations, the civil UAS market is being supported by more and more personnel with greater and  greater expertise.  Added to this is the increase in capability,  a considerable drop in price and a regulatory regime backed  by cost effective implementation routes that has fuelled a  revolution in unmanned aircraft with a mass of less than 20kg. The conference covers all these aspects plus much more and provides all stakeholders with a significantly different, more in  depth and in tune view of where the industry is going.  The need  to ensure that the public are well informed and appreciative of  the enormous benefits that will accrue from the use of  UAS/RPAS technology in the civilian marketplace is also now becoming and essential ingredient to the industry’s success. The UASSG Annual Conference 2013 will cover: Public Engagement Data Protection and Privacy European Progress Corporate Programmes Commercial Operations Safety Assurance Innovation Award Autonomous Systems Current and Future UAS Civil Programme LEAD SPONSOR:   INNOVATION AWARD This year again sees the inclusion of the Innovation Award for student RAeS members which is sponsored by EuroUSC™ and provides for three presentations selected by the UASSG Committee being presented at the conference. This year’s 1st Prize is £1,000 and prospective entrants should contact victoria.white@aerosociety.com for more details.  This award is kindly sponsored by: If this conference is of interest to you, you may also want to view Prof Keith Hayward's recent comments on the EC Roadmap for civil UAVs.  Please click  here to read the article REGISTRATION FEES: Non-Member: £550 + VAT RAeS / UAVS Corporate Partner: £475 + VAT RAeS / UAVS Member: £400 + VAT RAeS Baseline Member: £175 + VAT* (early bird discount not applicable) BOOK YOUR PLACE BEFORE 1 AUGUST AND SAVE £100! Why not join the Royal Aeronautical Society to take advantage of preferential  rates?See the membership section for more information. If you missed the 2012 Event, proceedings from the conference can be found online If you are interested in presenting a paper or sponsoring the event then please contact conference@aerosociety.com or call +44 (0)20 7670 4345 for more information

UAV - Europas vei videre - Synes lengre enn den for USA

AEROSPACE, UAV'S

Europe’s civil UAV Roadmap released

Head of Research at the Royal Aeronautical Society, Professor Keith Hayward provides analysis of the EC’s recently published Roadmap
for the integration of civil Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Systems into the 
European Aviation Systems. Can Europe unlock civilian skies for a
brand-new unmanned aerospace sector?

The Paris Air Show also saw European aerospace industry call for a joint MALE UAV project. (Cassidian).

The European Commission has just published a Roadmap 
for the integration of civil Remotely-Piloted Aircraft 
Systems into the European Aviation Systems,outlining
a staged approach to the integration of UAS platforms into
civilian airspace. The paper asserts that this will “bring
aviation into the realm of the third industrial revolution”. The
aim is ultimately to replace the current highly restricted
case-by-case approval for UAS operations with a
“seamless regulatory framework”, fusing the various
R&D initiatives underway in Europe. The process will be 
“gradual and evolutionary” matching regulatory relaxation 
to developments in technology and societal acceptance. 
While the main focus of the Roadmap is vehicles weighing 
less than 150kg (seen as the primary platform for civil 
applications), the proposals would also go a long way 
towards resolving the problems that have, for example s
tymied EuroHawk deployment in Europe.

The non-defence portion of the UAS market remains small
and specialised, and remains constrained by airspace
controls and other regulation issues. To date, a number of
police users and civil operators of “line of sight” vehicles
excepted, military customers have been the primary market
for UAS products. Compared to a conventional platform,
UAS use cannot yet compete on a single mission basis –
a fixed wing platform can cover a much greater area – but
for frequent missions the cost differential is much less and
trends are moving in the direction of the UAS option.

The most likely civil markets for UAS platforms will echo
those of the military – “dirty, dull and/or dangerous” –
police surveillance, fire mapping, border security, real
estatephotography, and coverage of natural disasters. 
Satisfyingthis new customer base may well require a 
radically different approach to the conventional aerospace 
market. For example while surveying will be a 
particularly important market, especially in large or 
remote areas, customers may alsodemand a range of 
new, integrated services. As in the space sector, increasing platform availability and capabilitywill generate a new wave  
of “downstream” applications where the platform 
hardware comprises a relatively small element in the total 
value chain.

Expansion into civil markets will therefore depend on
including UAS in the regulatory environment, and the speed
of adaptation and adoption may well determine the winners
and losers in the civil UAS market. The US FAA is already
moving to create guidelines and standards for UAS use. A
general rule on the integration of small UAS into the national airspace is expected by the summer of 2014 and to complete
their safe integration by 2016.

The EU Road Map is an important step forward in the
development of a European UAS industry, but in order fully
to exploit the emerging civil market, the region will have to
sort out its approach generally to UAS activity. The continuing failure to harmonise competing national UAS programmes
will hinder the emergence of a vital common core of
technological solutions that will be needed to enable civil
UAS operations in controlled airspace.

In September, the Royal Aeronautical Society will be 
examining this topic in detail with the UAS Annual 
Conference – Unmanned Aviation: Challenges for 
Growth.  For more details on this headline conference click here.