BAE Systems says it achieved the first autonomous and untethered flight of its 3rd generation ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle recently. The company’s vertical take-off and landing craft went through a programmed flight plan that included automatic takeoff, waypoint navigation, loitering, and automatic landing. The UAV, says BAE, will be ideal for smaller scale operations. According to company spokesman Terry Kanakri, the work has gotten the attention of Pentagon officials. “We are discussing this capability with several services,” Kanakri said. UAVs continue to proliferate the defense landscape, leading many to wonder who’s in charge. Read our report here.
The successful second flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on Nov. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., also included a first for the company—the launcher’s booster stuck its landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
