Tag Archive for: helicopter

Leonardo Prepares To Test Air Launched Effects On AW159 Wildcat Helicopter

/in


Preliminary trials have already been performed and testing on the AW159 is expected by the end of the year.

Leonardo and Anduril Industries completed in December 2022 a number of live trials with Air Launched Effects (ALE) at Predannack Airfield in Cornwall. The tests involved the use of Crewed-UnCrewed Teaming (CUC-T) control software and the ALTIUS-600 drone (produced by Anduril’s subsidiary Area-I), the latter being flight tested for the first time in the United Kingdom.

Leonardo said this trial built upon the September 2020 demonstration when a semi-autonomous UAV from Callen-Lenz Associates integrated into an AW159 helicopter’s mission system, allowing the crew to control the drone from the cockpit as if it was one of the aircraft’s on-board sensors. During the December 2022 trial, the Leonardo / Anduril Industries team was able to evaluate and gather real-world performance data on a range of hardware and software components critical to future collaborative drone capabilities.

The team developed and practiced the drone to aircraft coordination, flight maneuvers, waypoints, loiter positions and overall Command and Control (C2) necessary for multiple aircraft to function together, autonomously. The exercises have boosted the company’s knowledge in CUC-T and ALE data management, laying the groundwork for future, more complex trials.

Leonardo also said the next step will see trials with more drones flying simultaneously at beyond-line-of-sight ranges. This type of trials is considered essential in developing future ALE capabilities. ALEs are also being heavily tested in the United States as part of the Future Vertical Lift “ecosystem” and, specifically, one of crucial pieces of the manned Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft.

According to FlightGlobal, Leonardo is working to deploy the ALTIUS-600 from a Wildcat helicopter by the end of the year. Dr Simon Harwood, director capability, Leonardo UK, is hopeful that flight tests can be performed in 2023; the company is “conducting a lot of pre-work clearance trials” to enable later this year “integration of that capability on to the platform to conduct those air trials”, he says to FlightGlobal.

Engineers ready…

Source…

Ransomware hits helicopter maker Kopter

/in


kopter.jpg

Image: Kopter

Helicopter maker Kopter has fallen victim to a ransomware attack after hackers breached its internal network and encrypted the company’s files.

After Kopter refused to engage with the hackers, the ransomware gang has published on Friday some of the company’s files on the internet.

Many ransomware groups upload and share victim data on special “leak sites” as part of their tactics to put pressure on the hacked companies to either have them come to the negotiation table or force them into paying huge ransom demands.

LockBit ransomware gang takes credit

The Kopter data has been published on a blog hosted on the dark web and operated by the LockBit ransomware gang. Files shared on this site include business documents, internal projects, and various aerospace and defense industry standards.

kopter-ransom-page.png

Image: ZDNet
kopter-sample-files.png

Image: ZDNet

In an email, the operators of the LockBit ransomware told ZDNet that they breached Kopter’s network last week by exploiting a VPN appliance that used a weak password and did not have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled.

The LockBit gang also said they operate a web portal on the dark web where they show details to hacked companies about the attack, including a ransom demand. LockBit operators said someone from Kopter accessed the ransom page, but the company did not engage with them in a chat window provided to hacked companies.

Kopter has not publicly disclosed a security breach on its website or via business wires.

A Kopter spokesperson did not return an email seeking comment on the ransomware attack. Phone calls made on Friday also remained unanswered.

The Switzerland-based company was founded in 2007 and is known for its line of small and medium-class civilian helicopters.

In January 2020, Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo acquired Kopter for an undisclosed sum.

…

Source…

At the Sundance Film Festival? You can try Airbus and Uber’s new helicopter ride

/in

European aerospace giant Airbus and Uber are partnering to offer the public what will indubitably be an expensive breed of services: on-demand helicopter rides. According to The Wall Street Journal, the project will be launched during the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, which will take place in Utah this week. No details have been revealed in regards to what financial agreements have been reached by the two companies—nor how much the chopper rides will cost—but Airbus chief Tom Enders describes the venture as “pretty exciting.”

A spokesperson from Airbus said that the company would be offering Airbus H125 and H130 helicopters for use in the project, while Uber will be dispatching cars to deliver passengers to and collect them from their aerial voyages. Neither company has spoken about what the potential cost of such a journey might be, but Uber has charged between a few hundred to a few thousand pounds for similar services. In 2013, for example, you could pay £2,000 for a helicopter ride from a helipad in New York City to the Hamptons on Long Island, where an SUV would be waiting to take you to your final destination.

This unusual collaboration is, at least in part, potentially the result of low oil prices. The Wall Street Journal writes that oil and gas companies have traditionally been a key market for Airbus, but sales have suffered in the last two years. As for Uber, this could potentially be another move to diversify its portfolio of available vehicles. In the past, the company has tried offering auto-rickshaw services in Delphi (the service was shut down late last year) and luxury boats in Turkey. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, Uber offered chopper rides during CES in Las Vegas.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Technology Lab – Ars Technica

Crop-dusting unmanned helicopter gets cleared for commercial flight

/in

An unmanned helicopter that has been used for cropdusting in Japan for over 20 years has gotten clearance for test use in the US from the Federal Aviation Administration. Yamaha’s RMAX is now free to be flown over farms across America under a “Section 333” exemption to FAA regulations governing commercial use of unmanned aircraft.

The RMAX is not a drone, at least in the sense that many think of them—it’s a giant remote control helicopter controlled by a pilot within line of sight, weighing 141 pounds and capable of carrying 61 pounds of liquid spray or granules for crop dusting. The radio-controlled craft is powered by a 21-horsepower two-stroke engine—essentially a riding lawnmower engine.

The RMAX recently gained approval for use in Australia by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), and is also flown for agricultural purposes in South Korea. Overall, RMAX aircraft have logged over 2 million flight hours, and are responsible for spraying about 40 percent of Japan’s rice crop today—so this is hardly an experimental aircraft. The University of California, Davis has been conducting experiments with the RMAX to determine its usefulness in crop-dusting vineyards on terrain not normally suited to traditional crop-dusting operations since 2013.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments


Ars Technica » Technology Lab