Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter soon will be equipped to carry signals intelligence payloads and BAE Systems’ Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-Imaging System, or ARGUS-IS, reports FlightGlobal. DARPA signed a $12.8 million contract with Boeing, which is expected to demonstrate the new capabilities by the end of May 2011. ARGUS-IS is designed to continuously track and detect thousands of targets over large areas. Boeing has already tested Hummingbird with foliage-penetrating radar. (See also Humming Along from the Daily Report archives)
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.