Hood Tech Launches Drone Used as Drone

Released on: December 22, 2014, 9:49 am (EST)
Author: Andy von Flotow
Industry: Software

Hood Tech’s launcher was used to send a UAV airborne, as a drone which was used as a target for the US Navy’s latest laser weapon system.

Hood River, OR, December 22, 2014 -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- Hood Tech’s launcher was used to send a UAV airborne, as a drone which was used as a target for the US Navy’s latest laser weapon system.

From: Hood Tech Corp Mechanical, Inc., Hood River, Oregon
Date: December 19, 2014
Subject: Hood Tech Launches Drone used as Drone
Contact: Cory Roeseler, Hood Tech Corp Mechanical, Inc., 541 387-2255, cory@hoodtech.com

According to Marine Log and ABC News and Geekologie online (the last includes video) (http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=8420:us-navy-tests-star-wars-technology-at-sea&Itemid=231 and http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/navys-futuristic-laser-weapon-action/story?id=27507405 and http://geekologie.com/2014/12/modern-warfare-us-navy-laser-gun-destroy.php), the US Navy’s testing of its “new futuristic laser weapon (LaWS)” included shooting down a drone launched by Hood Tech’s equipment. The recent demonstration precedes possible deployment “on guided missile destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships in the early 2020’s”. “During the tests, LaWS…hit targets mounted on a speeding oncoming small boat, shot down a(n)…unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and destroy(ed) ordnance on an unmanned surface vehicle.”

“The (Office of Naval Research--ONR) called the demonstration on the USS Ponce ‘historic’ because it not only showed a laser weapon working aboard a deployed U.S. Navy ship, but also because LaWS operated seamlessly with existing ship defense systems.” “They appear to have used a Navy system currently operating successfully in the fleet for a target drone, which seems ideal for the test purposes”, said a Hood Tech representative.

When in 2002 Hood Tech began producing innovative UAV launchers and retrieval systems for small UAVs, those innovations enabled the elimination of runways. This freed aircraft for shipboard use, for deployment in irregular or disrupted landscapes, and for other difficult locations. Showing their ruggedness and reliability, Hood Tech launchers have initiated tens of thousands of flights under the extreme environments of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and aboard ships in the oceans around the globe.

Dr. Andy von Flotow founded Hood Technology in Hood River, Oregon in 1992. In addition to the design and manufacture of launch systems, Hood Technology:

-Provides zip test services for pre-flight safety verification of experimental aircraft and components.
-Owns and maintains a silent wind tunnel for measuring UAV engine and prop noise in accordance with MILSTD1474.
-Develops, tests, and manufactures stabilized imaging systems for a variety of UAVs
-Monitors blade vibrations in industrial turbines and jet engines, a diagnostic method for predicting possible future turbine failures.