In preparation for the upcoming real sea-trials, Boeing’s unmanned helicopter (based on a modified MD530F ‘little bird’) successfully landed on a moving platform towed by a truck. The project is under contract by the French armaments agency (DGA) and major partners are DCNS and Thales. Both French companies are modifying the system for its new more demanding role and next year, sea trials will be conducted over a French frigate. It is worth noticing that this particular system is not only derived from a manned system but it can be optionally piloted with a various levels of autonomy thus speeding up the development and simplifying many complex procedures that usually fully unmanned systems have. (via Ares blog)