Martin UAV

Martin UAV LLC, a Texas-based unmanned aerial systems (UAS) company with advanced engineering offices in California’s Silicon Valley, is participating in the 2016 UNITAS near Panama City, Panama.  UNITAS is an annual multi-national exercise involving more than 10 partner nations.  At the invitation of the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command & U.S. 4^th Fleet, the company’s flagship vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the “V-BAT”, successfully conducted both interdiction and humanitarian operational exercises on land and at sea.  The V-BAT demonstrated flawless hand-off to shipboard control and VTOL capabilities never before achieved in an operational environment.

The Martin V-BAT is the first aircraft of its size and capability to successfully demonstrate the ability to takeoff vertically, transition to wing-borne flight, and land from a hover.  The V-Bat is capable of hovering over select locations along a pre-programmed flight path before returning vertically to land or sea landing locations in highly confined areas.  With a near zero footprint, V-BAT is ideally suited for maritime operations without disrupting manned aircraft flight on or below deck.  Unique in the UAS marketplace, V-BAT does not require the assistance of launch or recovery equipment.

Martin UAV LLC, a San Jose, California based designer and fabricator of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) recently participated in the 2016 Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) event at Camp Roberts, California, at the invitation of the United States Naval Post Graduate School.  The company’s flagship vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the “V-BAT”, conducted operational flights from a remotely confined area as well as a prepared runway at the United States Army’s test range.

The Martin V-BAT is the first aircraft of its size and capability to successfully demonstrate the ability to takeoff vertically, transition to wing-borne flight like a sail-plane, and land from a hover   The V-Bat is capable of hovering over select locations along a pre-programmed flight path before returning to land vertically in a concealed and confined area.  The V-BAT has achieved the critical operational benchmark of vertical take-off and landing without the assistance of any launch or recovery equipment, making it unique in the UAS marketplace today.

Pictured below is the production V-BAT gas-variant, the culmination of rapid innovation under globally-renowned aeronautical systems expert, and Martin UAV Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Stephen Morris.

Poachers in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park will face a new foe after the African nation’s park service announced a new drone patrol this past month.

Tanzania’s Ministry of Tourism approved the use of UAVs over the park’s 1,000-square-foot domain following a trial deployment at Mkomanzi National Park.

The park is one of Africa’s most verdant preserves in terms of biodiversity and is especially known for its elephant population.

The park’s website explains:

“Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem – a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.”

Park law-enforcement will patrol the region using Super Bat DA 50 drones by Martin UAV. The fixed-wing aircraft has a 15,000 flight ceiling and can cover a 6-10 mile radius with a fuel range of 450 miles. Bathawk Recon, a Tanzanian UAV startup, will operate the fleet.

The anti-poaching initiative may run afoul of current national policy, however. In 2014, Tanzania’s national park service, Tanapa, declared that “the use of the UAVs of different sizes for any purposes is not allowed in the national parks for security reasons.” Ironically, the agency feared that poachers could use drones to scope out prey. It’s not yet clear if the Tarangire project will receive a government waiver.

Over the past six years, more than 80,000 Tanzanian elephants have been slaughtered for their ivory.

Drones have become one of the most promising weapons worldwide in the war on wildlife poaching.

In 2014, drone firm, EYE Remote Solutions led a UAV project in a rhino habitat in South Africa. The company approached the project in cooperation with an NGO as “a high security, rapid deployment, long term presence job, and we enlisted the assistance of several high-end technological partners to produce a viable solution – deployable immediately.”

More recently in South Africa, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation worked with state-owned tech firm Denel Dynamics on a UAV solution to battle rhino poachers in Kruger National Park.

Readers can learn more about conservation efforts driven by drones here.

Arusha — Tanzania has authorised the use of drones in Tarangire National Park in a hi-tech battle against poachers who threaten the country's multi-billion dollars wildlife tourism industry.

This operation will be carried out by Bathawk Recon, a Tanzanian start-up intending to develop and deploy this technology in countries affected by poaching.

Bathawk Recon director Mike Chambers says UAVs are the surest way of the future as the cost benefit is hugely advantageous.

"We have selected the Super Bat DA-50 made by Martin UAV in the US in the six month operation that will include, a fully functioning operation, fully trained operational personal and a ranger protocol program" Mr Chambers told BusinessWeek here.

According to Mr Chambers, this kind of drone has day and night capability which will enable surveillance to be deployed any time, any place in the protection area leaving no place for poachers to hide.

"This will enable us to survey greater areas and protect larger parks and reserves. The concept will find poachers and illegal intruders and lead rangers to the location." Mr Chambers explains.

Bathawk Recon's plan for the Tarangire is to establish UAV anti-poaching as a viable technology and the best choice for wildlife protection aerial surveillance.

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The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Sciences program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has received a generous donation of four MartinUAV Super Bat unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) from BOSH Global Services worth over $260,000.

Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus has the largest baccalaureate UAS program in the United States. BOSH Global Services is a world leader in UAS command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services.

The Super Bat is one of the most sophisticated small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) flying today. It is part of a complete unmanned flight system that includes ground stations, launchers, accessories and components. The system is being used in the United States for aerial missions such as airborne law enforcement reconnaissance, wildfire monitoring, agricultural crop analysis, atmospheric science research, disaster reconnaissance and emergency management.

See more at: http://news.erau.edu

Martin UAV signs Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Navy for creative research & development of a specialized variant of the Martin UAV V-BAT UAS.