Avionics

Turkey’s military said it shot down an unmanned aircraft on the Syrian border on Friday.

The nationality of the craft is unknown. It had violated Turkish airspace before it was warned and then shot down, the military said.

An unauthorized octocopter drone flying over An?tkabir during the Victory Day celebrations caused panic while the army considered shooting down the drone, daily Hürriyet online has reported. 

The Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), Turkey's defense procurement agency, said in a statement on Aug. 21 that it had launched a process to buy 15 drones from the state Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) and 15 from Istanbul-based developer Baykar Makine, for use by police forces. Twelve of the newly purchased drones are considered "urgent."

While the rest of Europe is gripped in the throes of the “Greece crisis saga”, EU-less and free trade-happy Switzerland — a paradigm of a vibrant, well-run rule-of-law democracy — is testing … drones as mail delivery vehicles!

Accrding to BusinessInsider, Swiss Post is currently testing drones for delivery, a company stated revealed.

Italy, France and Germany agreed on May 18 to develop a European drone program for reconnaissance and surveillance, seeking to inject momentum into a proposal first considered in 2013 to reduce reliance on U.S. and Israeli technology. 

An unmanned drone, carrying radioactive materials was spotted on the roof of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to local Japanese media.

The radioactive material quantity, however, was “small” and “not harmful” to humans, according to the same reports.

U.S. aviation officials announced on March 19 they will allow online giant Amazon to carry out testing for its drone program which could be used for quick deliveries.

The Federal Aviation Administration statement said it issued "an experimental airworthiness certificate" to Amazon Logistics so it can test its unmanned aircraft design.

One of three Al-Jazeera journalists arrested for flying a drone in Paris will appear in court next week where he is expected to plead guilty, a judicial source said on Feb. 26.      

Unidentified drones flew over Paris for a second night in a row, police said Feb. 25, in the latest mystery appearance of unmanned aircraft over the French capital at a time of high security.
      

The U.S. government on Feb. 17 established a policy for exports of military and commercial drones, including armed ones, and said it plans to work with other countries to shape global standards for the use of the controversial weapons systems.