Mel Duval
Jun 27, 2009, 10:36 AM
Posted this over in the AP forum a while back and it got lost. Anyone that thinks that there is not big $$ in UAV/UAS development (at least somewhere besides the USA) should think again. They would not be spending R&D $$$ otherwise. BTW, the airframe is a standard twin boom, twin tail pusher like a number of others out there...
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FOUND ON THE AVIATION WEEK SITE..............
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post:20e9df0b-6c65-42b2-a56d-709bb70aea41
Motorcycles. Walkmans. Hybrids. Unmanned Next?
Posted by Graham Warwick at 6/9/2009 12:15 PM CDT
Anyone old enough to remember Japan's domination of the global motorcycle industry in the 1950s and 60s, and can connect those 1960s Datsuns to today's Infinitis, might pause for thought when they hear that Japanese IT giant NEC plans to begin selling UAVs. (It's all in Japanese and babelfish produces hilarious results, so thanks to CrunchGear.com for the heads up.)
NEC's UAV is pretty small - just 3kg and 1.9m wingspan, with a 500g payload and 20min endurance - and it's clearly aimed at the civil market, but no-one can underestimate the capabilities of the Japanese industry once it gets interested in something. And small UAVs built using commercial components can draw directly on its powerful consumer electronics industry.
Not than Japan is a stranger to unmanned aircraft. According to the Japan UAV Association, there are more than 2,000 remote-control helicopters in agricultural use around the country. And this has made Yamaha's RMAX the favoured platform for autonomous rotorcraft research around the world. But Japan has yet to make its mark in the fixed-wing UAV market and its military is lagging in the use of unmanned aircraft.
Today the military still leads the development of UAVs because there are no rules yet, and therefore no market, for civil unmanned aircraft. But the rules are coming, and then the commercial market will quickly overtake the military as the driver of unmanned systems technology. Maybe NEC is just getting out ahead of the rush.
-----------------------------------------------------------
FOUND ON THE AVIATION WEEK SITE..............
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post:20e9df0b-6c65-42b2-a56d-709bb70aea41
Motorcycles. Walkmans. Hybrids. Unmanned Next?
Posted by Graham Warwick at 6/9/2009 12:15 PM CDT
Anyone old enough to remember Japan's domination of the global motorcycle industry in the 1950s and 60s, and can connect those 1960s Datsuns to today's Infinitis, might pause for thought when they hear that Japanese IT giant NEC plans to begin selling UAVs. (It's all in Japanese and babelfish produces hilarious results, so thanks to CrunchGear.com for the heads up.)
NEC's UAV is pretty small - just 3kg and 1.9m wingspan, with a 500g payload and 20min endurance - and it's clearly aimed at the civil market, but no-one can underestimate the capabilities of the Japanese industry once it gets interested in something. And small UAVs built using commercial components can draw directly on its powerful consumer electronics industry.
Not than Japan is a stranger to unmanned aircraft. According to the Japan UAV Association, there are more than 2,000 remote-control helicopters in agricultural use around the country. And this has made Yamaha's RMAX the favoured platform for autonomous rotorcraft research around the world. But Japan has yet to make its mark in the fixed-wing UAV market and its military is lagging in the use of unmanned aircraft.
Today the military still leads the development of UAVs because there are no rules yet, and therefore no market, for civil unmanned aircraft. But the rules are coming, and then the commercial market will quickly overtake the military as the driver of unmanned systems technology. Maybe NEC is just getting out ahead of the rush.