Short Takes – 12-2-23

Anduril’s New Drone Killer Is Locked on to AI-Powered Warfare. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “Roadrunner is a modular, twin-jet aircraft roughly the size of a patio heater that can operate at high (subsonic) speeds, can take off and land vertically, and can return to base if it isn’t needed, according to Anduril. The version designed to target drones or even missiles can loiter autonomously looking for threats.” No mention the explosive payload capacity or cost.

Device brought to Tennessee high school shuts off cell phones, other electronics. Fox19.com article. Pull quote: ““It is a little thing that does a lot,” Kyle Greenup with Kraft Technology Group said. “It is a multitool device.” Greenup, a Nashville tech professional, said Flipper Zeros can interact with anything that uses a wireless frequency. “You can read your pet’s microchip with this or your tire pressuring monitoring system with this,” Greenup said.”

Industry group opposes White House mission authorization proposal. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The group is concerned about giving additional responsibilities to the FAA’s commercial space transportation office without also significantly increasing its budget, noting that the office is struggling to keep up with its current launch and reentry licensing. At an October hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee’s space subcommittee, industry officials recommended increasing that office’s budget to handle launch licensing work, without any discussion of it taking on additional responsibilities.”

Percepto’s latest FAA waiver allows single pilot to oversee 30 automated drones at once. DroneDJ.com article. Pull quote: “Israel-based Percepto had over the months racked up increasing numbers and diversifying kinds of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) authorizations from the FAA, placing its automated drones used for inspection, mapping, surveying, and other enterprise applications at the very edge of the vanguard of automated UAV solution developers. Today the company pushed that advanced position even further by announcing it has received an FAA waiver for a single operator to oversee several of its craft remotely at the same time – up to 30, according to the decision.”