from the drawing boards, two mock-ups, to huge laboratory test-beds, now to reality. the U.S. Navy has created and built with the help of BAE system, have a working railgun at Virginia a testing ground. The working prototype uses non-aerodynamic rounds to control distance and force.
the issue of electricity, shipboard EMC/EMI, and connection to the shipboard power grid are major hurdles still to overcome.
click on the link below to see a test video
More @ Gizmodo.com
President Obama sent a Valentine’s Day present to the aviation community, including the unmanned systems industry, signing the long-overdue Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill into law on 14 Feb., which includes important provisions on the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system.
Full story @ AUVSI Site
US Air force has announced that it has cancelled the efforts to develop the next generation of battlefield drones.
With the continued success of the Predator, RQ-170 and the other UAV and drone systems, the air force has cancelled the MQ-X drone efforts. Many believed the Predator C was the expected winning contender for of this effort.
Another noted issue was that the air force could not keep up the tempo of training enough operators to fly the 48 Reapers delivered each year so it has lower the number of Reapers delivered to 28 per year.
read more at DODBuzz
The air force has quietly announced that it is has began work on a new strategic bomber to replace the ageing B-52 and assist the 21 plane B-2 force on the future battle space. The air force has promised that the new Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) will try to control its budget by using tried and fielded systems and not over use of new technologies in the systems.
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