News

  MAY 26 – TUCSON, AZ – Latitude was recognized by KVOA as one of the local Tucson companies leading the way for the commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle industry. For full report go here  

MAY 8-11 – Dallas, TX- Technology innovations in unmanned vehicle systems have been racing ahead, but commercial applications have been held back by aviation and maritime regulations. That’s all changing. Recent unmanned-friendly legislation for commercial operations has thrown the UAV industry wide open, creating endless new opportunities. To manage this growth, industry leaders from the Association for…

By Patrick C. Miller OCTOBER 27 – Textron Systems has not only added vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) ability to its Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system (UAS), but can also fit the entire aircraft and ground control station into a single pickup. Earlier this month, the company completed a successful customer demonstration of the UAS—known as the…

NOVEMBER 10 – Latitude Engineering recently worked with Schmidt Ocean Institute on their research vessel, Falkor which has been sailing from Darwin in Northern Australia to the Island of Guam in the Western Pacific. The group has been utilizing Latitude’s HQ-60B airframe to study the sea-surface microlayer. After equipping the UAV with a payload suite including…

Article and photo by Bill Carey Textron Systems has at least one potential customer for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) version of its Aerosonde small unmanned aircraft system. The Aerosonde Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ) adds four rotors to what is otherwise a catapult-launched fixed-wing aircraft.“Our customer has asked us for an estimate in terms of time…

By Kelsey Atherton – At 2:06 in the afternoon on August 9th, four propellers lifted an unusual drone into the sky. Exactly 22 hours, 29 minutes, and 38 seconds, the drone finally landed, settling back to earth at 12:39 P.M. on August 10th. It landed as the holder of a new record: the longest flight…

by Thomas Black – Before some cutting-edge online retailer can use a drone to drop granola bars on your doorstep, a railroad born when Abe Lincoln was in Congress will first have to iron out the kinks. BNSF Railway Co. is flying drones as far as 150 miles (240 kilometers) along the New Mexico desert to inspect tracks,…

CAMP ROBERTS – AUGUST 9-10, 2016 – Latitude Engineering, with a team coordinated by L-3 Unmanned Systems, consisting of Power4Flight, Trillium Engineering, and Silvus Technologies, participated in the Joint Interagency Field Experimentation Program (JIFX). Hosted by the Naval Postgraduate School at the California National Guard’s Camp Roberts, JIFX provides an environment to encourage innovation and collaboration between DoD, government agencies, various industries, and universities.  Special Operations Forces, the National…

JULY 28 – TUCSON, AZ, and ALBUQUERQUE, NM, –Latitude Engineering, LLC, and Robotic Skies, LLC  announced today that they have partnered to develop and implement a global maintenance plan for the Latitude Engineering line of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) products. As part of the agreement, Robotic Skies will provide warranty program and field support management for Latitude Engineering customers…

JUNE 17-21 – HAWAII -With support from NOAA and the R/V Oscar Elton Sette, Latitude Engineering conducted ship-based flight operations, testing Latitude’s 20 lb class Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ-20). Over three days, five flights were conducted, successfully demonstrating vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) from a confined area on the ship’s fantail in winds exceeding 20 knots. This proof-of-concept event demonstrates the unique capabilities of Latitude’s…