Boeing announced Tuesday that is has completed a series of flight tests of its A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter fitted with a foliage-penetrating radar called FORESTER. Overall, there were 20 flights between Aug. 31 and Oct. 8 at Ft. Stewart, Ga., that amassed 53 hours of flying time that validated the A160’s flight characteristics when carrying the UHF-band radar, which is encased in an underbelly pod. “The success of these test flights points to the operational readiness of this important capability,” said Vic Sweberg, Boeing’s director of unmanned airborne systems. DARPA has been sponsoring the development of FORESTER for the Army, but the Air Force Research Lab has also had a role in the radar’s maturation.
Lt. Gen. Stephen L. Davis, the Department of the Air Force’s top internal watchdog, has been nominated to lead Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.