UK MOD To Spend 20 Million On Toy Size Spy Drones 44
garymortimer writes "The Ministry of Defense (MOD) is making 20 million pounds available for Nano UAS. This is the second story this week in which military organizations seem to be looking for small multicopters. A market to date that has been ignored by the big defense contractors and a space owned by small start ups. No doubt some of those small start ups will soon become big defense contractors!"
Model Aircraft Hobbyists Worried (Score:4, Interesting)
The US and indeed, nations around the world, are implementing or preparing to implement aircraft regulations for UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), which includes the model aircraft of us radio controlled airplane hobbyists. While there isn't much in common with the typical model aircraft and a Predator drone with a Hellfire Missile, there is a LOT in common between these new nUAS's and a model aircraft. Just look at the thing. I have seen hobbyists at my local hobby field fly similar hobby planes they purchased for a few hundred dollars that already fly 20 minutes and longer. In case you weren't aware, the aircraft model hobby is moving in huge numbers from gas powered planes to the new LiPo battery powered planes. There are now battery-electric motor combinations that match the power of every gas powered model airplane engine in the world. And my own batteries easily keep my planes in the air for 20 minutes each, same as these military specifications. There is a good overview of upcoming regulatory actions worldwide, on the "sUAS News" website: http://www.suasnews.com/uas-regulations/.