Blue Bear in Successful Unmanned Hybrid Airship Bid

Bedfordshire firm Blue Bear is part of a Northrop Grumman/Hybrid Air Vehicles team which has been awarded an unprecedented contract to develop the Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) by the US Department of Defense. Blue Bear will be providing: vehicle management and flight control algorithms; sub-scale demonstrator flight trials to de-risk full scale vehicle development; simulation and modelling; and support for vehicle management system integration.

The LEMV will be a hybrid airship (an airship which also develops lift in forward flight), typically flying 3-week intelligence missions at 20,000 ft. It will carry advanced sensors and systems to provide both a very high endurance "eye-in-the-sky", as well as providing communication functions. Although destined for a first mission in Afghanistan, the system could in future be deployed to provide multi-function support to non-DoD users such as law enforcement agencies, scientific research organisations, border patrol organisations and aviation regulators.

The LEMV will be developed over an 18 month programme, at the end of which the system will be trialled in Afghanistan. Blue Bear will be contracted to Hybrid Air Vehicles, who will be developing the HAV304 as the LEMV platform, including design and build.

Managing Director of Blue Bear, Dr Yoge Patel, was pleased by the DoD's decision.

"In the final analysis, the DoD chose the team best placed to deliver the required capability. The fact that the DoD selected a team with major contributions from this side of the Atlantic is a testament to the world class technologies being developed in the UK. It is also a local success story, with both Blue Bear and Hybrid Air Vehicles located in Bedfordshire. We and all our partners on the team now look forward to delivering this exciting programme."

Blue Bear presents paper at the 25th International Bristol UAVS conference.

Blue Bear attended the Bristol UAVS conference and presented their 6th paper at the conference in the last 3 years on morphing wing technology. A second paper on salient object detection was also presented by Dr Toby Breckon from Cranfield University after another successful collaborative project. A copy of the presentation can be found here.

Bristol UAVS Conference 2010

Blue Bear Attends MBDA Loitering Munition TLIO Presentation and Exhibition

Blue Bear was pleased to attend an exhibition for Loitering Munition research in Stevenage. A copy of our presentation may be found here.

Blue Bear Demonstrates to Air Warfare Centre

Blue Bear was delighted to host Major Martin Melia and his team on 20 January. Major Melia had requested a demonstration of BB's Blackstart UAV, including the latest technology being developed for this and other platforms.

Blue Bear Wins IET Innovation Award

Blue Bear is proud to have won an IET Innovation Award for best team as part of Team Stellar. The award was presented to Stellar Team leader Julia Richardson by Phillipa Forrester.

Blackstart UAV Flies into Record Books

An unmanned aircraft developed by Bedford-based Blue Bear opened the flying display at the prestigious RAF Waddington International Air Show held on 4 and 5 July 2009. It is the first time that an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has ever flown autonomously (controlling its own flight) as part of a military flying display in the UK.

Blue Bear Presents at the 24th International Bristol UAVS conference

Blue Bear attended the Bristol UAVS conference and presented papers on Autonomous UAV flight in the windy urban environment, Development of a Two-Tier Unmanned Air System for the MoD Grand Challenge, and Autonomous Real-time Vehicle Detection from a Medium-Level UAV. A copy of our presentation may be found here.

Bristol UAVS Conference 2009

Blue Bear Helps BAE Systems Develop Mortar-based UAV Launcher

Blue Bear participates in "Project Artful", a BAE Systems mortar-based UAV launcher development.

Blue Bear in Winning MoD Grand Challenge Team

British forces could soon be launching teams of autonomous spy robots to scope out enemy-held villages and towns. The technology was developed for the Ministry of Defence's Grand Challenge, a contest to find the best robotic air and ground vehicles for identifying threats such as snipers and roadside bombs. If future work goes well, the technology could be at the disposal of the army within 18 months.

Design Challenge Unites Industry and Academia

Cranfield University has joined with Blue Bear, Selex Galileo, Marshall SDG, Stellar Research Services and TRW Conekt to form Team Stellar in the MoD Grand Challenge.

The Battle of Copehill Down: integrated robotic skills shoot out

For ten days in August, 14 teams of engineers drawn from UK industry and academia will embark into Wiltshire countryside, to engage in a series of robotic exercises for The MoD Grand Challenge taking place in August at the cold war mock village Copehill Down. This aims to energise the development and use of the kind of autonomous robotic systems expected to revolutionise future battlefields, and offers the potential for lucrative contracts to the winners.

Blue Bear to take part in MoD Grand Challenge

Blue Bear to enter MoD robotics competition as part of Team Stellar.