AUSA 2024: Quantum-Systems targets big 2025 with UAS developments
Quantum-Systems has been upgrading its UAS family, with new versions of the Vector, Reliant and Twister drones set for release throughout 2025.
Raytheon is providing its enhanced Coyote UAS to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for hurricane research missions, the company announced on 20 January.
The UAS will be used for hurricane tracking and modelling, giving researches the ability to collect data from inside storms that build in the Atlantic Ocean.
The expendable Coyote can be tube-launched from a host vehicle in the air or on ground.
NOAA plans to expand on work it conducted in 2014 when it successfully deployed a Coyote from a hurricane hunter into the eye of Hurricane Edouard.
Thomas Bussing, vice president, advanced missile systems product line, Raytheon Missile Systems, said: ‘We've made significant improvements to Coyote. It can now fly for up to one hour and 50 miles away from the launch aircraft. Raytheon technology is playing a key role in enhancing safety for hurricane researchers, and helping to deliver vital information about potentially deadly storms to the American people. Ultimately, that will save lives.’
Joe Cione, a hurricane researcher at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and chief scientist of the Coyote program, said: ‘This successful flight gives us additional confidence that we will be able to use this unique platform to collect critical continuous observations at altitudes in the storm environment that would otherwise be impossible.’
Quantum-Systems has been upgrading its UAS family, with new versions of the Vector, Reliant and Twister drones set for release throughout 2025.
The service has been using a Directed Requirement (DR) approach to speed up the deployment of a Medium Range Reconnaissance capability.
AeroVironment’s portfolio will grow thanks to the eVTOL P550 aimed at battalion-level tactical forces.
The Royal Australian Air Force is advancing its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities across three key programmes as it works with the likes of Boeing and Northrop Grumman to reshape Australia’s defence strategy.
Prototypes from Griffon Aerospace and Textron Systems recently passed through MOSA conformance trials and flight tests.
Funds for the second phase of this effort will be allocated in the US Department of Defense (DoD) FY2026 budget request.