FlightGlobal
• Craig Hoyle
South African aerospace firm Paramount has launched the V-Raven, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing uncrewed aircraft optimized for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The company cites eight hours of endurance for its baseline ISR configuration and plans to introduce a light-attack variant.
UAV Development & Drone Programs
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South African aerospace firm Paramount has launched the V-Raven, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing uncrewed aircraft optimized for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The company cites eight hours of endurance for its baseline ISR configuration and plans to introduce a light-attack variant.
U.S. intelligence reportedly warned European governments of a possible Russian Gerbera drone operation targeting Spain, France or Italy, according to El Mundo. The reported warning highlights the expanding geographic risk posed by drone activity and the challenge of detecting and attributing operations across European airspace.
The Pentagon is rapidly procuring small hybrid-electric drones to restore a critical surveillance capability in the Middle East, as combat losses make the MQ-9 Reaper fleet increasingly costly to sustain. The effort signals a shift toward cheaper, more numerous unmanned systems for contested operating environments.
Australia’s Royal Australian Air Force has reached major milestones across three intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleets in six months: completing its P-8A Poseidon force and declaring initial operational capability for the MQ-4C Triton and MC-55A Peregrine, according to the Department of Defence.
Boeing subsidiary Insitu and Gogo Special Missions have completed testing of a Group 3 uncrewed aerial system fitted with Gogo’s Galileo HDX antenna and connected to Eutelsat’s OneWeb satellite network. The effort gives military operators another high-speed connectivity option beyond SpaceX’s Starlink.
Textron Aviation has completed assembly of the 500th Cessna Citation Latitude at its Wichita facilities, marking a decade of deliveries for the midsize business jet. The Latitude entered service in 2015, offers a 2,700-nautical-mile range and seats up to nine passengers.
Boeing Defence Australia selected Lite Coms to supply tactical satellite terminals for the Australian Defence Force’s beyond-line-of-sight communications program, while Boeing subsidiary Insitu and Gogo Special Missions completed testing of a lightweight Galileo HDX solution integrated onto a Group 3 uncrewed aircraft.
A think tank is advocating specialized, missile-carrying collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) to protect airborne support assets from China’s growing long-range air-to-air missile capability. The concept would use uncrewed aircraft as escorts to counter threats against tankers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, and other high-value enablers.
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