Archive for August 12, 2011
ROBOTS: Unmanned Systems Expo Next Week
AUVSI North America 2011
U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo
The Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International holds its annual conference and product expo in Washington, D.C. next week.
The military and other government agencies will outline their needs and plans for unmanned aircraft, ground vehicles and robotic vehicles that sail under and on the sea. Scores of contractors and manufacturers will also be on hand to discuss their products and reveal new developments.
All of the armed services, as wsell as the CIA, use unmanned systems to gather intelligence from the air, defuse unexploded ordnance and monitor remote borders and perimeters 24/7.
Your 4GWAR editor will be there all next week, August 16-19, filing from the Washington Convention Center, so stay tuned.
AFRICA: F-16s for Morocco
North African Nation to Get 24 Jets
Morocco took delivery of the first four of 24 F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters this month.
Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz journeyed to Ben Guerir Air Base in Marrakech, Morocco August 4 to present the first Lockheed Martin F-16s to the North African kingdom. The remaining 20 aircraft are expected to be delivered by 2013, according to the Air Force.
The new Block 52 (current production version) F-16C aircraft are part of a modernization of the Royal Moroccan Air Force. Morocco is the 25th nation to receive the F-16 multirole fighter, including Belgium, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The U.S. has a long standing friendly relationship with Morocco, which has coastlines on both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Morocco was the first nation to recognize the flegling United States during the Revolutionary War.
Map courtesy of CIA World Factbook
