Air Force Research Lab personnel from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, last month evaluated the BAT 3 unmanned aerial vehicle at Camp Atterbury, Ind., to gauge its ability to detect objects in urban areas. The small-sized surveillance platform is built by MLB of Mountain View, Calif. It carries a stabilized, gimbaled video camera that provides live, streaming video and another camera for digital mapping, a company official told the Daily Report Nov. 10. AFRL is employing the slingshot-launched BAT 3 in the tests to survey potential threats and feed imagery back to a control station operator, who then determines whether further investigation is necessary by smaller micro air vehicles. The BAT-3 is reportedly unable to be heard when flying at 1,000 feet in altitude, meaning it could fly slightly lower than the Eiffel Tower and not be heard by persons on the ground. AFRL is examining the BAT-3 under the cooperative operations in urban terrain program, or COUNTER. (Camp Atterbury report by Army Sgt. Jessica Duncan)
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…