UAE: more UAVs in the region

As published by FlightGlobal, the United Arab Emirates are very interested in enlarging their military fleet by the acquisition of the Predator XP. According to different sources, this version of the American drone does not carry any kind of weapon, being used only for ISR -Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance-. 

The respective deal, which resulted in a $197 million agreement, provides the Emirati Armed Forces with an "undisclosed number" of the global edition of the unmanned aerial vehicles developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. If approved by the American Congress, this would be the first acknowledgement of a Non-NATO country obtaining American-military technology in drones.  

Sources:

Flight Global. 

Los Angeles Times.  

Trends in Missiles Market

As recently published in Air-force Technology website, the figures for the global missile defense system market expenditure seem to continue rising. The trend shows that is expected a growth of 2.71% in comparison of 2011, forecasting a value of USD $19.8 billions for 2021.

The high demand of these kind of systems obeys to the increment of diverse threats that nations have to confront (both domestic and international menaces). These threats mobilize governments to develop more assertive defense programmes, being this trend leaded by North America and followed by Asian - Pacific countries. Regarding Europe, missile defense programmes are expected to decrease in number and expenditure due to the economic and financial crises that makes some nations to cut their defense budget.

Some of the most important developments in the industry that are mentioned in the article are the smokeless missile system (the "Multiple Effects Rocket System" created by the UK, prevents the enemy to locate the source of fire); the anti-aircraft carrier missile system (missiles that can be launched from mobiles platforms, developed by Taiwan in response to the new Chinese aircraft carrier); and an outer space-intercepting missile system (developed in many countries such as China and India, that permits to destroy missiles out of the atmosphere). Furthermore, new materials are being consider to build more powerful and precise targeting systems ("High Density Reactive Material", project under development of the US Office of Naval Research).

To sum up, even though some nations are facing the worst part of a global economy crisis, governments are conscious of the great importance of missile defense systems; so in that sense we can understand how the demand of these kind of systems are rising and missile programmes are being developed with such an emphasis all over the world.

Source:

air-force technology portal http://www.airforce-technology.com/features/featuremissile-design-top-trends-for-a-market-set-to-soar/

New Brazilian UAV

Brasilian Embraer and Elbit Systems have revealed the development of a new unmanned aerial vehicle: the Harpia UAV.

Due to the presentation of this new South American joint-venture project, the company has not given any information about its performance or schedule data. By the released image, it is known that the Harpia has a double tail linked to a high ratio wing; with a propeller engine in the aft end of the aircraft. It is expected to be an upgraded improvement of the Hermes 450 project (which belongs to the Brazilian air force fleet).

In regards with the prospective market, the CEO of Embraer Frederico Curado highlighted that this medium-altitude UAV is initially designed for Brazil and other "countries where Brazil may have some geopolitical influence".

As we can appreciate, the South American giant is gaining both technological and industrial military capability; and its developing his resources to protect all his territories.

Source: Flight Global

Virus Attack on US Drones

As recently published, the fleet of UAV that belong to the USAF suffered the impact of a cyber attack from an unknown virus. It was detected in the base located in Nevada, station from where the pilots handle the vehicles that are operating in places like Afghanistan or Irak.

Although is not clear if the attack was intentioned or a dangerous accident, the vulnerability is evident: the data recollected by the UAVs and the manipulation of the bombs they carry are in danger, and could be a threat to all the drones system.

Source: Infodefensa.com website.

Spain: UAVs wanted

As the drone tendency increases, the Chief of the Spanish Air Force (JEMA), General Jose Jimenez Ruiz, stated the necessity of Spanish Air Force to have more MALE UAVs (Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in the short-term.

According to this Senior military, the drones already proofed being worthy, so it is necessary and essential to include them in the Air Force fleet. Furthermore, Gen. Jimenez Ruiz declared that the JEMA is building a UAS Training Centre in Salamanca (Spain), giving courses and extending licences to manipulate and handle this kind of aircraft.

Source: Infodefensa.com portal.

UAV Summit West 2011

From November 7th to 9th the city of San Diego (CA) is going to host the 2011 edition of the UAV Summit West. This event will be also held with the Border Management Conference and Technology Expo, as well as the Maritime Homeland Security Summit West.

The event is specifically dedicated to the unmanned vehicles, due to their increasing demand and use by military forces. The conferences will cover diverse aspects of the UAVs, such as requirements, emergent policies, latests programs and acquisition procedures in this industry.

The first day of the summit -7th November-is the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Development Focus Day; and it will cover issues such as UAV capabilities and architectures, hybrid designs, the use of nanostructed applications, among others.

November 8th is the Main Summit - Day One, in which the main speeches are current and future operations for the use of UAVs, border threats in land, air and sea, asymmetric maritime environment and advanced ISR technologies, among the most important debates.

Finally, 9th November is the Main Summit - Day Two, in which the briefs will highlight the importance of joint work between US military and industry partners, the organized crime threat for US National Security, infrared detector research, and UAS integration.

The brochure of the event is available here, and this conference will be an interesting opportunity to meet the current features, as well as the future propects, of what is becoming the most important element in 21st century warfare: UAVs.

Unmanned vehicles: technology against piracy

As the rise of unmanned vehicles is well acknowledged in relation to Air Force, this technological development is also gaining influence in the maritime scenario.

Due to the great importance that the sea represents (international trade as the main factor for national economies, in conjunction with resources and ability to project power), it is becoming a more and more vulnerable space due to the emergence of threats such as terrorism and piracy. The development of both Unmanned Sea Vessels (USV) and the Unmanned Underwater Vessels (UUV) is one of the most accurate ways that the Navies have to deter the threats and control their own space.

In an article published by Naval-Technology, one of the latests projects in the UUV market is the SeaGlider, from iRobot firm. It's long-range version operates between 20 to 1,000 metres; and contains sensors with different specifications. But in specific reference with the piracy threat, last January BAE Systems introduced a powerful laser, an ideal resource for commercial ships, to defend themselves against pirates. This non-lethal deterrent is useful for preventing piracy activity being located at a considerable distance from the source of threat.

These are just few examples of how technology is being updated as a reaction to the emergent hazards of the 21st century, increasing the impact at the time to protect territories.

Source: In defense of the shallows: littoral water protection, Naval-Technology, september 2011.

First Euro Hawk sent to Germany

The German Air Force received a Euro Hawk unmanned vehicle from the European company Cassidian. This is the first of the five strategic aircrafts that the mentioned nation acquired from EuroHawk GmbH, a 50-50 joint venture of Cassidian and Northrop Grumman, in order to update its air force.

The plane -originally brought from the USA- is equipped with signals intelligence mission system (SIGINT), and will be tested by the German army and Cassidian experts during the following year. It is based in the Block 20 Global Hawk project from Northrop Grumman (part of the USAF fleet), but the difference with the US Air Force vehicle is that this newest version is equipped with a radio-electronic reconnaissance equipment and a data processor.

The other four Euro Hawks will be delivered to the European nation between 2015 and 2016.

Some Key Data of the Euro Hawk: endurance of 30 continuous hours, maximum altitude of 60,000 feet and more, and wingspan larger than any commercial aircraft.

Source: Cassidian web page

Ria Novosti web page

Increasing market for the UAVs

As it was published in the Global Defence Technology edition of October/11, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are gaining more space in the defense market.

Due to the higher use these kind of aircrafts are having both in warfare and not warfare scenarios, drones are evolving as critical elements in national defense strategies all over the world. Among the main benefits, it can be taken into account the reduction in casualties numbers, and the three-tasked feature of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaisance (ISR).

The article mentions the result offered by an ICD Research Market Data study, which indicates that the global market for UAVs in 2011 is about 7 billion dollars, with an expected increase of 4.08% by 2021.

Source: Global Defence Technology, Issue 8, October 2011.