Cassidian acquired SURVEY Copter  Cassidian has acquired the french company  SURVEY Copter to strengthen its UAV segment.  Especially within the civil and military Mini UAV applications  Cassidian plans to launch a new industrial field, including VTOL  UAV programs. Aim of these activities is an improved matching  with the growing global demand in both sectors. Following the  general trend of robotics and Cassidian´s long term vision, this  acquisition should enhance the commercial opportunities e.g.  within the identified markets in India (see below) or in the  Middle-East.   Dr. Stefan Zoller, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cassidian,  said: "With this acquisition, Cassidian continues to expand its  UAV capabilities and its global market approach, targeting new  businesses in the small UAV segment."  Sources: Cassidian, WSJ, sUAV News, Unmanned Tags: Cassidian, SURVEY Copter, VTOL UAV, India   India´s needs for long-endurance VTOL UAVs  This month India has realeased a request for  information (RFI) for a small-sized vertical take-off and landing  unmanned air vehicle.  Due to this request of the Indian air force, a battery- or fuel-  driven VTOL UAV with less than 22 lbs (10 kg) and an endurance  of more than 60 min is required. Planned payloads are cameras,  forward-looking infrared and laser spotters and rangefinders.   This small UAV should perform intelligence, search and  reconnaissance missions and should be capable of hovering and  operating in urban environments.  At present there are only a few small VTOL UAV-concepts  available at the market. According to this RFI the Syrphus VTOL  UAV-Design (35 in-variant) offers the perfect battery-driven  platform with an endurance of more than 70 min in horizontal  flight or at least 20 min in hovering.  Tags: RFI, India, VTOL UAV   Launch of the hybrid VTOL UAV project  In a few months this domain will host the website of  the new Patent Pending vertical take-off & landing  (VTOL)-concept Syrphus for Small UAV(SUAV) applications.  This groundbreaking airframe design has never been presented  before and is unique in appearance. It stands out for its economic  flight performance, the aerodynamic stability comparing to  helicopter-like systems and the sophisticated simplicity and  therefore robustness. Due to these characteristics it demonstrates the perfect VTUAV  platform (´T´ stands for ´Tactical´). For example, for use within a  submarine´s mast neither a folding nor a catapult mechanism is  necessary or it can be launched by mounted units at velocities  from 0 to 80 km/h. But it is also scaleable from 30 cm (maybe  smaller) to 200 cm in width.  "We are estimating flight performance data similar to current and  successful AeroVironment RQ-11 "Raven" or EMT "Aladin" for  the 60 cm hand-launched variant of Syrphus but with additional  hands-free VTOL capability combined with hover & stare  functionality." said inventor Andreas Voss "The first prototype  was very successful and very promising. With the upcoming  prototypes in the following months we will get the real specs of  the Syrphus design. We are eager to find a licensee to start with  the next investigations."  ...Please, stay tuned! Tags: VTOL UAV, Patent, UAV airframe, UAV family   Patent Application “Hybrid VTOL UAV”  It´s done! The Patent Application is submitted to the  intellectual property authority.  Tags: Patent, Application, VTOL configuration   Hoverfly “syrphus ribesii”  Eponym for this VTOL UAV (VUAV) or rather  VTOL Tactical UAV (VTUAV) family is a genus of  the hoverfly family called Syrphidae. The hoverflies impress us  by their elegant and very stable "Hover and Stare" flight during  summer nearly all over the world and are welcome to many  gardeners due to the fact that these are useful insects. Tags: Eponym, Hoverfly, syrphus ribesii   © 2014 Andreas Voss. All Rights Reserved | Legal Notices and Terms   The Next VTOL UAV Generation