U(C)AV ontwikkelingen

[Elzenga]

Ok..kunnen we die discussie hierbij ook als afgesloten zien...

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

France, UK To Sign Memo Kicking Off Combat Drone Study

Jul. 10, 2014 - 09:49PM   |   By PIERRE TRAN and ANDREW CHUTER   

PARIS AND LONDON — Britain and France plan to sign a memorandum of understanding for the study of a combat drone, bringing their air forces closer to an advanced fighter program worth billions, defense ministry spokespersons of the two countries said.

On July 15, during the Farnborough International Airshow, Defense Ministers Philip Hammond and Jean-Yves Le Drian are due to sign the agreement to launch a two-year feasibility study for the high tech combat drone, the French spokesperson said.

The unmanned combat aerial system (UCAS) study is seen as a step toward preparing a successor to the Rafale and Typhoon fourth-generation fighters starting around 2035.

Voor de rest van de tekst, zie link

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140710/DEFREG01/307100027/France-UK-Sign-Memo-Kicking-Off-Combat-Drone-Study

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

A joint approach to the development of Europe's next generation drone

Rome 19/05/2014

Alenia Aermacchi, Dassault Aviation and Airbus Defence and Space deliver plan to France, Germany and Italy

A joint approach to the development of Europe's next generation drone
Europe's Industry is ready to develop a next generation advanced European Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). After their call for the development of a European drone at last year's Paris Airshow, the three most relevant European aeronautical companies have now agreed on further details for a joint approach.

Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and Alenia Aermacchi delivered a proposal for further defining a European UAS to the Ministry of Defence of France, Germany and Italy. The offer proposes a Definition Phase which has been prepared by joint development teams of Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and  Alenia Aermacchi and which is backed by an industrial agreement on workshare and a cooperative agreement to start the MALE2020 program.

The definition phase foresees that the three nations define and adjust their requirements for a European UAS development together with their armed forces and the European industry. The definition phase also serves to avoid costly additional developments during production and to reduce financial and development risks to a minimum. A commitment by the nations on the further development of the European UAS has then to be made after finalizing this definition phase: the plan of the Industries leads to an affordable and certifiable solution ready by 2020.

Several European nations announced their requirement for unmanned aerial systems. Also the results of the EU Defence Summit in December 2013 allude to an urgent need. The Conclusions of the European Council recognize the development of a MALE UAS as a key capability for European defence.

About MALE 2020

The MALE 2020 project foresees the development of an European Unmanned Aerial System for long-range missions at medium flight altitudes (MALE). Besides being an answer to the European armed forces' requirements, it will take into account the need to optimize the difficult budgetary situation through pooling of research and development funding. With a souvereign European development, critical requirements around the certification of drones are inherently built into the programme from the onset. MALE 2020 is orientated to foster the development of high technologies and contribute to sustaining key competencies and jobs within Europe.

http://www.finmeccanica.com/en/-/male-drone

[Lex]

Scan Eagle drones krijgen mogelijk gezichtsherkenning

Nederland gaat onbemande vliegtuigjes in de toekomst mogelijk uitrusten met camera's die geschikt zijn voor gezichtsherkenning. De eventuele inbreuk op de privacy is daarbij geen reden af te zien van de ontwikkeling van deze systemen.

Dat blijkt maandag uit antwoorden van minister van Veiligheid en Justitie Ivo Opstelten (VVD) op vragen van D66 over gezichtsherkenning door de Scan Eagle. Deze drone is vorig jaar door defensie gekocht, maar wordt ook gebruikt door justitie.

Zo kunnen de vliegtuigjes dankzij de infraroodcamera ingezet worden voor de opsporing van wietplantages. Uit specificaties van het apparaat die onlangs op internet opdoken zou echter blijken dat het apparaat ook geschikt is voor gezichtsherkenning.

Volgens Opstelten is dat niet het geval. De specificaties zouden alleen betrekking hebben op camera's die op het vliegtuig gemonteerd kunnen worden. Opstelten wil echter niet bij voorbaat uitsluiten dat de drones van defensie in de toekomst worden voorzien van camera's waarmee gezichtsherkenning mogelijk is.

Privacy ondergeschikt
"Eventuele inbreuken op de privacy die daarbij kunnen ontstaan zijn op zichzelf ook geen reden om dit bij voorbaat uit te sluiten", schrijft Opstelten.

Omdat het gebruik van drones voor gezichtsherkenning politiek gevoelig ligt, heeft het kabinet het Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum (WODC) op aandringen van de Kamer onlangs opdracht gegeven onderzoek te doen naar de mogelijke negatieve effecten van het gebruik van drones.

Novum, 31 mrt 2014 17:08

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Navy: UCLASS Will be Stealthy and 'Tomcat Size'

By: Dave Majumdar and Sam LaGrone
Monday, December 23, 2013

The U.S Navy's unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) program has evolved to call for a jet that is much larger and much more capable than what was envisioned just six months ago, Navy officials told USNI News.

"We're talking about a 70,000- to 80,000-pound airplane," Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, the Navy's director of air warfare said in a 20 December interview. "We're talking [Grumman F-14] Tomcat size."

The shift in the character of UCLASS comes as the service prepares to release a set of months-delayed draft requirements to industry, and follows a struggle inside the Pentagon over the character of the aircraft.

"The concepts have moved around. They've been: You want unmanned off the carrier to do some off-cycle ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance]—we're more than that now," Manazir said. "We have heavy-end ISR and strike capability with some growth in the ability to carry weapons and some growth in the sensor package."

Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are all hoping to secure what looks to one of the Defense Departments few new start development programs for the foreseeable future.

The Navy's current thinking about the UCLASS concept calls for an aircraft much larger than even the 44,000-lb. Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system-demonstrator (UCAS-D).

In fact, the UCLASS could be considerably larger than even the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, with some of the proposed UCLASS designs being 68 ft. long—eight feet longer than a Super Hornet, Manazir said.

The UCLASS size and weight numbers suggest that engineers might have to adopt either a twin-engine design or potentially an unaugmented version of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, which delivers about 28,000 lbs. of dry thrust, to meet the Navy's requirements.

"They're big airplanes, they're not [General Atomics MQ-1] Predators," Manazir said. "They're big, heavy, capable airplanes that will fly for 14 hours, that can give away gas."

The Navy hopes to use the UCLASS as an aerial refueling tanker to extend the range of the tactical fighter fleet—particularly the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter. "We're going to put a refueling capability into them and they'll have an endurance package in them," Manazir said. "They'll be able to give away something like 20,000 lbs. of gas and still stay up for seven-and-a-half hours."

The Navy is still looking at what the UCLASS might be able to do for a combat identification role inside contested airspace—which is the mission the Navy currently envisions for it future F-35C fleet.

"If you take that UCLASS and you send it downrange, is it the sensor that gets the combat ID?" Manazir said. "I think with the designs that we're moving toward to have initial operational capability in the 2018 to 2020 timeframe, you're going to have an unmanned airframe that can operate in a non-permissive environment."

But Manazir cautioned that the UCLASS will not be nearly as stealthy as the F-35C.

"We're not going have JSF-like stealth," Manazir said. "You're not going to have somebody that can go right over the top—you know—of the threat capital city, but you're going to have something that can stand in somewhat."

Alternatively, the UCLASS might be useful as a flying missile magazine to supplement the firepower of the F/A-18 and F-35C in air-to-air combat as a robotic wingman of sorts.

"Maybe we put a whole bunch of AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) on it and that thing is the truck," Manazir said. "So this unmanned truck goes downtown with—as far as it can go—with a decision-maker."

In those situations, Manazir said, a Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye or a F-35C flight leader might command the UCLASS.

But the concepts for what missions the Navy might offload from manned aircraft to the UCLASS are still evolving.

Manazir said that by 2030, once the Navy has some operational experience with the UCLASS, it will have a better institutional understanding of what unmanned aircraft bring to the carrier air wing.

The change in the focus in the UCLASS program described by Manazir is a marked shift from stances the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) took on the program earlier this year.

The nature of the program shifted from a high-end system based on a 2006 concept to a lower end system designed to be inexpensive and allow the U.S. to have a system to conduct counter terrorism missions from aircraft carriers.

http://news.usni.org/2013/12/23/navy-uclass-will-stealthy-tomcat-size

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Unmasking the RQ-180

Posted by Jen DiMascio on Dec 06

The Air Force has long debated how to conduct penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions since the venerable, high-speed SR-71 retired in 1998. But despite the need and a lingering requirement, no visible progress toward that goal was made. That's because the highly classified aircraft – the RQ-180 – has been developed by Northrop Grumman in secret.

Zie voor plaatjes en de rest van de tekst: http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3A27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3A764f0843-3aa6-4b63-a879-13326ce408a2

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Nederland lid van Europees drone-clubje

19-11-13

Onder leiding van grootmachten als Frankrijk en Duitsland is vanmiddag besloten tot de oprichting van een zogeheten "Europese drone gebruikers club" die informatie over het gebruik van de onbemande vliegtuigjes moet verzamelen en bovendien een concurrerend toestel tegen de Amerikaanse en Israëlische drones moet bouwen. Dat meldt ABC News.

Ook Nederland is van de partij in het nieuwe verbond. De Franse minister van Defensie Jean-Yves Le Drian laat weten dat de European Defense Agency de opdracht is gegeven om in kaart te brengen wat er nodig is om binnen tien jaar een Europese drone af te hebben.

De Drone-club is toegankelijk voor alle lidstaten van de EU. Naast Frankrijk, Duitsland en Nederland hebben ook Griekenland, Italië, Polen en Spanje zich aangesloten.

http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/archives/binnenland/2013/11/nederland-lid-van-europees-drone-clubje

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Germany to Fly Sagitta – an Unmanned Flying Wing by 2015

November 17, 2013

Following development and testing of core elements, "Sagitta", Cassidian's future Unmanned Aerial Systems' (UAS) research program is entering a two year integration and testing phase, culminating in a first test flight in 2015. The integration of the aircraft is taking place at Cassidian's Military Air Systems Center Manching, close to Munich. The reference configuration for the research work is a tailless flying wing with a wingspan of 12 metres. The demonstrator will initially be built on a scale of 1:4. The first wind tunnel tests have already been successfully completed.

After 2 years of intense design work, the first parts of the extremely light-weight carbon fibre structure are now in production, and a dedicated system integration rig has been setup to start assembly of the individual avionic components and to perform the required hardware-in-the-loop simulations. The integration will span one year, and complete by the end of 2014.

"Sagitta is a perfect example of a successful cooperation between industry, research institutes and universities in the field of high technology and future-oriented research," says Aimo Buelte, Head of Research & Technology at Cassidian. "Our goal with Sagitta is to raise our knowledge of Unmanned Aerial Systems to the next level, because UAS are the future of aviation."

In the project "Sagitta" Cassidian is conducting basic research into future Unmanned Aerial Systems Technologies together with universities and research institutes. The Open Innovation Programme Sagitta consists of a total of seven research areas of UAS development: preliminary aircraft design, aerodynamics, flight control systems, communications and data processing, vision-based flight control and air-to-air refuelling, materials and structure, autonomous flight and mission control, simulation and systems integration. The development includes the construction of a flight demonstrator, the purpose of which is to verify the validity and feasibility of the theoretical research results.

Zie link voor het plaatje

http://defense-update.com/20131117_sagitta.html

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Newest drone to fly, swim and drive during missions

November 11, 2013

Move over, lightweight flying robots! The drone of the future is currently being developed at a government lab, and if all goes as planned it will do much more than just soar through the sky on its own.

While the United States continues to consider the merits behind its overseas weaponized drone program and efforts to allow surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles sail through domestic airspace, Sandia National Laboratories has released a video showing off a conceptual design meant to make the traditional UAV look like a thing of the past.

Sandia's "Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept" is still being ironed out, but ideally scientists hope that they'll be able to soon deploy an unmanned craft capable of flying, swimming, driving and even hopping like a frog across any type of terrain or obstacle it may encounter.

Independently, a number of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles are already capable of seemingly everything under the sun. If this latest endeavor works out accordingly, however, Sandia will have its hands on a small vessel capable of traversing air, land and water. That means a single drone could be launched from a random station, soar through the sky on its own only to land in a river, navigate to another location and then pick itself up out of the water and walk to a site where it could collect intelligence. After all, the types of drones currently included in the American military's arsenal involve unmanned craft that can kill a target for thousands of feet away, snoop on suspects using infrared cameras or sniff chemicals using state-of-the-art sensors.


The laboratory says its Intelligent Systems, Robotics, & Cybernetics (ISRC) office has been slaving over a way to combine the different types of drones currently available in order to perfect this Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept, and they've already built and conducted testing on conceptual designed to try and hammer out the kinks needed to produce a fully functioning craft capable of doing more on its own than the average human.

"Imagine a mission where you have to covertly fly into an area, traverse through water, across land and overcome obstacles along the way," Sandia says on its website. "ISRC has built and conducted limited testing on conceptual hardware, and while the concept may appear to be off in the distant future, our testing has shown that this concept could soon be a reality."

"The real value added [of the Multi-Modal Vehicle] is that it allows maximum flexibility in highly complex missions without the concern over whether or not all of the vehicles are positioned just right," Jon Salton, a Sandia engineer working on the project, told Wired.

Zie link voor promo-video

http://rt.com/usa/drone-sandia-multi-modal-558/

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Voor dat bedrag hadden wij het ook wel gekund.

Met gemak, ik ben benieuwd wat uit dit project geboren gaat worden...

[dudge]

The total cost of the Taranis project is GBP180 million (USD291.3 million).

Voor dat bedrag hadden wij het ook wel gekund.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Taranis makes maiden flight

Nicholas de Larrinaga, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

24 October 2013

The BAE Systems Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator has made its maiden flight and is currently conducting initial flight trials, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to IHS Jane's on 25 October.

"Flight trials [on Taranis] are currently ongoing," an MoD spokesperson told IHS Jane's .

Neither the MoD nor BAE Systems was able to confirm the date of the maiden flight at this stage. However, a full statement by the MoD will be issued when the Taranis flight trial programme has been completed, the spokesperson said.

Flights are understood to be ongoing at the Royal Australian Air Force's Woomera Testing Range in South Australia. The United Kingdom has used the site extensively in the past to test new military equipment, including the Mantis unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2009.

Meanwhile, in evidence to the UK Parliament's Defence Select Committee, the MoD separately confirmed on 25 October that "Taranis ground tests commenced in 2010 and flight trials took place in 2013".

The spokesperson said this was partially incorrect as it implied flight trials had been completed rather than currently in progress, as is the case.

A BAE Systems spokesperson told IHS Jane's that they were unable to add anything at this point beyond the MoD's confirmation. The United Kingdom is highly secretive about the Taranis UCAV, which is known to have been seen in public on only two occasions.

BAE Systems has previously commented to IHS Jane's , "We expect the first flight trials to take place in 2013. Testing on this system requires a very different approach and testing regime from traditional manned platforms. The system will be comprehensively and extensively 'flown' on the ground for many hours. This thorough and robust testing activity is the major stepping stone needed to ensure that the system progresses into its flight testing phase in a safe and low-risk manner."

The first flight of Taranis follows on from the maiden flight of the pan-European Neuron UCAV technology demonstrator on 1 December 2012 and extensive carrier-based testing of the Northrop Grumman X-47B in 2013.

Taranis is not intended to enter production, but is instead a technology demonstrator vehicle (TDV). According to the MoD evidence to Parliament, "It will provide the MoD with experimental evidence on the potential capabilities, helping to inform decisions on the future mix of manned and remotely piloted systems."

The total cost of the Taranis project is GBP180 million (USD291.3 million).

"The TDV will demonstrate the successful integration of off-the-shelf technologies, including automation, command and control, sensor integration, and payload integration," according to the MoD evidence. "The TDV is not designed to drop weapons, but will include simulated weapon release as part of a mission-representative scenario."

The United Kingdom is considering a UCAV as part of the basis for the UK Royal Air Force's deep strike capabilities. The United Kingdom "has long held a requirement for capabilities that allow the timely engagement of targets deep behind enemy lines. While this has historically been fulfilled by manned aircraft, it is recognised that an UCAS [unmanned combat air system] could offer a cost-effective solution in the future", the MoD stated in its evidence to Parliament.

In July 2012 the United Kingdom and France agreed to share technical expertise gained from the Taranis and Neuron programmes over an 18-month period to determine whether a potential joint Ango-French UCAV development/procurement programme, known as Future Combat Air System (FCAS), is viable.

http://www.janes.com/article/28899/taranis-makes-maiden-flight

[Poleme]

EU wil eigen luchtmacht met drones.    27 juli 2013

De Europese Unie zou spionagedrones willen bezitten en aansturen om te gebruiken voor 'interne veiligheids- en defensiedoeleinden'.

De plannen zouden een reactie zijn op het recente PRISM-aftapprogramma, schrijft The Daily Telegraph. De EU zou nog te afhankelijk zijn van de VS voor informatie over veiligheids- en defensiedoeleinden. Het bezitten van eigen spionagedrones zou dat moeten veranderen.

De drones zouden onderdeel zijn van een Europese veiligheidsdienst. Volgens huidige voorstellen zou de EU van plan zijn in de herfst van dit jaar concrete plannen voor de aankoop van drones gereed hebben.

"Het schandaal met Edward Snowden toont aan dat Europa eigen, autonome veiligheidsmogelijkheden nodig heeft", aldus een hooggeplaatste EU-medewerker tegenover de Britse krant. "Dit voorstel brengt ons een stap dichter bij integratie van Europese defensie."

Stemming
Voor de plannen zou de EU samenwerken met EEAS, de Europese dienst voor extern optreden. De spionagedrones zouden gelinkt worden aan het project 'Copernicus', een Europese spionagesatteliet.

Mocht het voorstel doorgaan, zou de Europese veiligheidsdienst onder leiding komen te staan van Catherine Ashton, de hoge vertegenwoordiger voor buitenlandse zaken en veiligheidsbeleid van de Europese Unie. De plannen worden al gesteund door Frankrijk, Duitsland, Italië, Spanje en Polen. In december wordt er over de plannen gestemd.
In juni pleitten fabrikanten al voor een Europese drone. Fabrikanten Dassault Aviation en het Italiaanse Finmeccanica Alenia Aermacchi en EADS, het moederconcern van onder meer Airbus riepen toen op tot een samenwerkingsverband met de EU. Ook daar was minder afhankelijkheid van Amerikaanse en Israëlische technologie de redenering.
Bekijk de vijf meest indrukwekkende drones. Door: NU.nl/Floris Poort   http://nutech.nl/gadgets/3536288/eu-wil-eigen-luchtmacht-met-drones.html

Men zegt in dit artikel dat het plan voor een Euro UAV Air Force ontstaan is als reactie op het PRISM telecom data mining systeem.
PRISM graaft ca. 98% van haar data op door samenwerking met Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, AOL, Youtube, Facebook, Skype en Apple.
PRISM maakt handig gebruik van het feit dat veel van de globale elektronische communicatie niet via de fysiek gezien kortste telecom lijnen, maar via de goedkoopste telecom lijnen gaat.  En laten die goedkoopste lijnen nou net via de VS lopen.
Overigens, de Amerikanen zijn met hun PRISM niet uniek.  Bijvoorbeeld de Britten, China, Israel, Iran en ... onze Oosterburen hebben soortgelijke systemen.
Ik denk eerder dat het plan voor een EU UAV macht eerder is ingegeven door het EuroHawk debacle.  Deze werd geannuleerd, omdat de EuroHawk niet gecertificeerd is voor gebruik in civiel luchtruim.  Certificering gaat echter een extra EUR 500 - 600 miljoen kosten en dat bleek teveel van het goeie.
Het EuroHawk programma met 5 kisten is de nationale ISR dependance naast een groter in 1995 gestarte NAVO Alliance Ground Surveillance programma.
Het AGS zou bestaan uit een NAVO vloot met bemande Airbus A321's voorzien van lucht-grond surveillance radar. Vergelijkbaar met het Amerikaanse E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, het Britse Sentinel R.1 systeem of de Embraer R-99B.
zie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-8_Joint_STARS    J-
En het AGS had ook een onbemande component. oorspronkelijk bestaande uit 7 Global Hawks. Die zouden voornamelijk IMage INTel, ELektronische INTel (radar uitzendingen opvangen en analyseren) en SIGnaal INtel en COMmuncation INTel (telecom uitzendingen) gaan doen.
De volgende landen doen aan AGS mee: VS, Canada, Bulgarije, de Baltische staten, Bulgarije, Denemarken, Duitsland, Italia, Luxemburg, Noorwegen, Polen, Slowakije, Slovenia, Tjechie en Roemenia.  Nederland deed eerst ook mee, maar ja bezuinigingen he.  De Britten doen niet aan AGS mee, zij vertrouwen op hun eigen 5 Sentinels.  Deze hebben boven Afghanistan en Libya hun waarde ruimschoots bewezen.
In het moeizaam en langzaam verlopende AGS project werden ook de Airbus A321 'J-STARS' al geannuleerd, want te duur.  En het aantal AGS GlobalHawks nam af van 7 naar 5.   Duitsland bood aan, dat een deel van haar EuroHawk vlieguren ook beschikbaar waren voor AGS. Maar hun lot schikte echter anders.
Frankrijk heeft April jongstleden laten weten, dat men bereid is toe te treden tot het AGS programma.  Global Hawks vliegen in Europa nu alleen vanaf het aan de Siciliaanse Oostkust gelegen Naval Air Station Sigonella zonder Automatic Collision Avoidance System.  Deze kisten hebben ontheffing om te starten en te landen op het ca. 15 - 18 km landinwaarts gelegen veld.  Maar opereren in principe altijd boven zee.

Wil men aan een EU UAV macht beginnen, dan zal men eerst in samenwerking met luchtvaart industrie, de International Civil Aviation Organization en European Aviation Safety Agency sense & avoidance technologie rijp maken en in Europees verband certificeren om UAV missies en oefeningen mogelijk te maken in zowel militair als civiel luchtruim.
Het Alliance Ground Surveillance programma heeft een looptijd van 20 jaar.  Hoe lang gaat de vorming van een EU UAV Force duren ?


   

[Ace1]

Drones in VS beschikbaar voor commercieel gebruik

De Verenigde Staten hebben hun fiat gegeven aan twee nieuwe types onbemande vliegtuigen, zogeheten drones, voor commercieel gebruik. Dat is niet eerder gebeurd. Naar verwachting zullen zij later dit jaar voor commerciële doeleinden worden ingezet.

Volgens de Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gaat het om de Insitu's ScanEagle X200 en de AeroVironment's PUMA. Beide wegen minder dan 24 kilo en zijn kleiner dan 1,5 meter.

Een groot energiebedrijf is van plan de ScanEagle, die onlangs ook door defensie in Nederland is aangeschaft, in augustus van dit jaar al te gebruiken langs de kust van Alaska om de schuivende ijsschotsen en de migrerende walvissen te observeren.

De PUMA zal naar verwachting kunnen assisteren bij rampenbestrijding, bij grote olierampen en de observatie van wilde dieren.

Het niet-militaire gebruik van drones in de Verenigde Staten was tot dusver voorbehouden aan politie en overheidsinstanties.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2668/Buitenland/article/detail/3482736/2013/07/27/Drones-in-VS-beschikbaar-voor-commercieel-gebruik.dhtml

[Ace1]

het lijk me zinvol als kleine U(C)AV  fabrikanten Als Saab en Schiebel dan ook meedoen zodat men de markt vergroot.

http://www.saabgroup.com/en/Air/Airborne-Solutions/Unmanned_Aerial_Systems/Skeldar_V-200_Civil_Security/

http://www.saabgroup.com/en/Naval/Situational-Awareness/Unmanned-Aerial-Systems/Skeldar_V-200_Maritime/

http://www.schiebel.net/File.aspx?Id=1979&Path=~%2fDownload%2fBrochures&Name=pdfDownload