Competitors

The following list is not in any particular order and a company may also be our potential partner.
See also our analysis »UAVs in different countries and »Key People.


  • AAI
    ~ AAI is a U.S. designer, manufacturer, and systems integrator of tactical unmanned aircraft systems and ground control station technologies

  • Northrop Grumman
    ~ BAMS Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) program to provide persistent maritime ISR data collection and dissemination capability to the
    ~ Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF)
    ~ NG opened its new system integration laboratory for the U.S. Army's RQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air vehicle
    ~ the laboratory provides a place for the Fire Scout team to test and refine the UAV
    ~ NG says it to be a step toward meeting the Army's demand for a big-picture network to better understand the battlefield environment
    ~ and simultaneously communicate among several of its assets.

  • Talon Light Attack and Surveillance Helicopter (L.A.S.H) concept
    ~ helicopter parts that are commercially available are being adapted into a very light weight but yet very durable airframe package
    ~ it will be able to run on everything from gasoline to diesel to bio diesel as well as kerosene and the JP-3, JP-4, JP-5, JP-6, JP-7, JP-8.
    ~ it will be able to carry out missions such as recon, light attack with onboard munitions, such as the hellfire attack missile
    ~ that is already in the military inventory, as well as dropping military supplies at a forward location with pinpoint accuracy
    ~ it will have a duration of approximately 6 to 8 hours flying time
    ~ it will be able to take off and land autonomously and carry out its mission with a click of a button on a computer keypad and mouse
    ~ targeting pod is located under the aircraft, with both high resolution cameras as well as the latest in Infra Red cameras as well as laser targeting equipment

  • BAE Systems
    Unmanned Air Vehicles
    ~ the UAV Team is a multidisciplinary team
    ~ it covers all aspects of technology and design associated with autonomous air systems
    ~ above includes the ability to rapidly demonstrate new ideas,
    ~ utilising rapid prototyping facilities and processes
    ~ it has strong links into the supporting supplier base
    ~ and into the authorities associated with qualification and clearance
    ~ it also has the capability to design and test fly demonstrator systems
    ~ this is to demonstrate UAV capability and technology
    ~ this activity is centred around a secure assembly and test facility,
    ~ enabling the team to be co-located around the product
    ~ The UAV team works closely with all areas of New Business,
    ~ in particular with the FOAS team in developing and assessing the potential UAV solution for FOAS
    ~ the team is also considering wider UAV application in the military markets,
    ~ including ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) application,
    ~ and in the civil domain
    ~ a particular focus is the application of technologies to meet this potentially large market

  • Frost Sullivan UAV Business Raport (pdf)

  • UAV World
    NASA’s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) programme
    ~ was set to finish with the duration flight of the Helios Prototype
    ~ Dryden's work with Uninhabited Air Vehicles (UAVs) far from complete
    ~ Dryden is expected to begin an effort in fiscal year 2004 to complete fuel cell development
    ~ another key component of the Center's UAV work is to harness a cooperative venture
    ~ among a group of companies with interests in UAVs,
    ~ the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense
    ~ to set standards that will enable UAVs to fly in the same skies with piloted aircraft -
    ~ still one of the biggest stumbling blocks to opening the UAV frontier
    ~ development of a regenerative fuel cell would allow it to fly for weeks or months at a time and longer, ~ thereby reducing the costs of missions
    ~ that deliver a maximum return on investments per flight
    ~ it also is one of the primary focuses of NASA's new UAV programme
    ~ NASA said to be imperative that they develop the regenerative fuel cell
    ~ the regenerative fuel cell would enable sustained flight for months
    ~ Once shown that capability, people will appreciate solar electric for sub-orbital use,
    ~ this would provide the ability to stare at space from the sky or the ground for many days,
    ~ giving you continuous observations
    ~ people want weather observations; they want to understand the total cycle of a hurricane by monitoring it 24/7
    ~ UAV could provide records from the earliest creation to landfall
    ~ this technology would enable a platform for science missions, telecommunications, disaster relief, remote sensing
    ~ and imaging and also had applications for the U.S. Department of Defense
    ~ once the platform is readily available, people will find applications for its use that can't yet be envisioned
    ~ the second element of the new effort in UAV support concerns assimilating UAVs in the national airspace
    ~ NASA is tasked with the development of a process and a series of recommendations
    ~ that the FAA could use to certify UAVs to share airspace with commercial aircraft
    ~ the UAV National Industry Team (UNITE) is a vine that grew from seeds planted during the 10-year, Dryden-led ERAST Programme
    ~ the contractor group collectively advocates a solution to the certification process,
    ~ a grey area both for the FAA and for companies wishing to explore broad use of UAVs
    ~ one of the single biggest inhibitors to operations of UAVs for commercial,
    ~ civil and military use is the accessibility to the national airspace according to NASA
    ~ UNITE members - AeroVironment, Aurora Flight Systems, The Boeing Company, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin,
    ~ Northrop Grumman, and Scaled Composites were unified in their presentation
    ~ Despite their competition for UAV business,
    ~ the members share a need for a technological breakthrough in the regenerative fuel cell area
    ~ and a common need to gain certification for vehicles that will be built or developed.
    ~ A coalition consisting of Dryden, Ames Research Center, the UNITE group of companies,
    ~ the Department of Defense and NASA Headquarters is working with FAA assistance on the national requirement
    ~ as part of a larger NASA plan, called Access 5, calling for high-altitude,
    ~ long-endurance (HALE) aircraft to be certified within five years
  • AeroVironment
    ~ Pointer, AV's Raven, Dragon Eye, Swift, Puma, Wasp solutions

    ~ Catia 4,
    ~ Ashlar Graphite 3D modelling,
    ~ engineers specialize in design for low Reynolds number flight regimes
    ~ they have wind tunnel testing experience
    ~ and the ability to use wind tunnel pressure data or computational fluid dynamics software packages like
    ~ NS network simulator
    ~ VSAERO to model complex aerostructures
    ~ company also maintains in-house avionics, flight software, propulsion and systems engineering experience
    Science & Applications
    ~ developed and supplied high-altitude UAVs for atmospheric research and global change observations
    ~ MarsFlyer project to design and build a UAV that will fly on Mars
    ~ a half-scale prototype of the MarsFlyer aircraft deployed and flew above 100,000 feet
    ~ conducted risk reduction studies for a Martian flight and migh have tested a full-size MarsFlyer prototype
    ~ working on the next generation of high-altitude UAVs for earth and atmospheric research missions

    Aerostructures
    ~ In 1995, Aurora became a key member of the Global Hawk team
    ~ designed and built all of the tooling for the new, larger version of the Global Hawk
    ~ WV facility fabricates a variety of metal and composite components for several aircraft,
    ~ including the E-8C Joint STARS, EA-6B Prowler, E-2C Hawkeye, and F-14 Tomcat
    Tactical Systems
    ~ designs and builds a range of UAV systems to military, law enforcement and homeland security personnel
    ~ from the backpackable GoldenEye-50 to the high-altitude Orion

    • DRS
    ~ Sea OWL isemi-autonomous/autonomous marine craft for real-time data collection and transmission from ISR missions

    Germany & United States collaboration

    Small UAV in Kuwait
    ~ Raven, UAVs from European suppliers


    Russia
    ~ ready to market a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
    ~ that can be launched by a Smerch multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)
    ~ to provide targeting data from a distance of 90 kilometers in just four minutes
    ~ The Splav State Research and Production Association, Tula, which makes the Smerch,
    ~ developed a UAV that can be fired within a 300mm rocket
    ~ the 42-kilogram UAV is fitted within an 800-kilogram rocket
    ~ and can fly over the target area for 30 minutes at an altitude of between 200 and 600 meters
    ~ carries a TV camera and sensors that transmit imagery and coordinates with the MLRS,
    ~ which in turn identifies a more precise target location
    ~ trials shown that it reduces by 25 percent the number of times rockets need to be fired to hit a target
    ~ three in one: reconnaissance, strike and control
    ~ so far there have been no domestic or export orders
    ~ not clear when the system would go into mass production
    ~ due to financial constraints, it will be hard to market the product to the Russian armed forces
    ~ the most likely clients the countries that already operate Smerch
    ~ in service since 1987, Smerch was delivered to Algeria in 1999 and Kuwait in the mid-1990s
    ~ will allow for better mobility … than a regular UAV that takes time to be mounted on a special launcher
    ~ apart from Kuwait, Algeria and Russia, India interested in using the UAV to monitor Kashmir

    NAIST Unmanned Aerial Vehicle project
    ~ web page: images
    sponsors and partners:

    (1) 3W Modellmotoren,Germany
    ~ provided detailed CAD modeling data for the engines,
    ~ which was needed to produce an accurate model for determaining flight characteristics of the XB-2 aircraft

    (2) Japan Aerospace
    ~ supported project for display by giving us a 50% discount
    (3) busted
    ~ the engines in the XB-2 come Cactus Aviation of Arizona
    ~ Cactus Aviation provided in addition to large discounts,
    ~ advise to help get aircraft designed and built using these types of 3W engines

    (4) CADD VAN DU
    ~ provided more than 600,000 US dollars in research capital,
    ~ free cad work using Rhino and Solidworks,
    ~ and lots of technical expertise and avisory.
    ~ discussed to license the XB-2 aircraft and Vision technology for production in the United States and abroad


    (5) Carbon Composited Hawaiji
    ~ the first carbon sheets in the previous part of the project came from CARB COM of Hawaii
    ~ provided in the second half of the project with even more discounts than the first half and continued to support requests

    (6) busted

    (7) Dow Chemical Corporation
    ~ an ernest supporter of the project for over four years
    ~ provided advisory assistance and various foam materials for the project

    (8) HYTEK Automation,Canada
    ~ LabVIEW and support USB or DV formats

    (9) Miyoshi-Corporation
    ~ educational discounts for Resins, Vacuum bags and other composite related materials

    (10)National Instruments
    ~ full suite of LabVIEW tools and vision hardware for the project
    ~ sponsorship brought about 200,000 US dollars worth of equipment to projects VISION technology using NI VISION
    ~ cut down on development time by 6 months
    ~ web page: Global Hawk UAV landing gear stroke measurement

    (11)OK Model, Japan
    ~ provided technical advisory support for aircraft construction, aerodynamic analysis,
    ~ composite construction expertise and aircraft hardware, control and logistics support
    ~ web page: catalogue

    (12)Omni Compsites, USA
    ~ an agent for Auromat Composites - Columbia in Los Angeles
    ~ paid 50% of the bill for the auromat materials

    (13)PM Mode


  • Cloudcap Technology ~ software and hardware solutions for the UAV market, Oregon
  • Aerosonde
  • MicroPilot ~ UAV autopilot Weight=28g,Inc GPS,Length=10cm,width=4cm
  • L-3 BAI Aerosystems ~ Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder...
  • Tactical Aerospace Group ~ VTOL UAV Helicopters
  • Battlespace Inc, USA ~ UAV operational,maintenance training, mission analysis, concept of operations development

    • Other competing or complementing companies and products:
  • Rotomotion
  • Linux Links
  • An UAV project


    New platforms:
    ~ Dassault Aviation
    ~ Saab & future UAV products



    • UAVs, sensors, antennas, hardware, software:
  • Cyber Defense Systems; micro UAV
  • Proxity
  • Cloudcap Technology ~ software and hardware solutions for the UAV market, Oregon
  • Aerosonde
  • MicroPilot ~ UAV autopilot Weight=28g,Inc GPS,Length=10cm,width=4cm
  • L-3 BAI Aerosystems ~ Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder...
  • Tactical Aerospace Group ~ VTOL UAV Helicopters
  • Chelton Microwave ~ Embedded UAV Antennas
  • Battlespace Inc, USA ~ UAV operational,maintenance training, mission analysis, concept of operations development

    Power solutions:


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