Gunmakers of the world's most deadly firearm has unveiled its first ever spy-in-the-sky drone and is planning on rolling it out for public sale. The Kalashnikov Group famous for the AK-47 will officially reveal what it is describing as a noiseless unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft at next month's MAKS international air show near Moscow. It has a four hour flying time and can be launched by hand as Vladimir Putin's biggest weapons maker takes a step back from its AK-47 - a rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm on the planet. The Kalashnikov Group's state-of-the-art drone which is said to be completely noiseless The drone weighs 7.5 kilograms and also boasts vertical takeoff capability. Reportedly, three types of noiseless drone to be released onto the market by the weapon manufacturing giant.

When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight, your FedEx package might someday be delivered by a robot. Rob Carter, FedEx's chief information officer, says the shipping giant is considering small vehicles that could drive around neighborhoods and make deliveries without human drivers. Carter is responsible for setting the technology agenda across FedEx's various operating companies, including its planes-and-trucks Express shipping service and office-and-home Ground delivery service, which operate in 220 countries. He recently told MIT Technology Review about some of FedEx's emerging technology initiatives in artificial intelligence and robotics. The investments FedEx makes in these technologies could shape the multi-trillion-dollar logistics market, affecting everything from the way people send and receive parcels to the global movement of large fleets of vehicles.

A U.S. Air Force drone the size of a small airliner has crashed in a remote section of California near Mt. Edwards Air Force Base said in a statement that the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance aircraft, was making a routine trip Wednesday afternoon from Edwards to its usual home at Beale Air Force Base when it crashed for unknown reasons. The Inyo County Sheriff's Department said the crash caused a small wildfire that was quickly brought under control. The aircraft, which has a 130-foot wingspan, is designed to fly at high altitudes for long distances. It is slowly replacing the manned U-2 spy planes used for decades by the Air Force.

FILE - In a Monday, June 30, 2008, file photo, Beale Air Force Base Airmen work on an RQ-4 Global Hawk into its hangar at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, Calif. An RQ-4 Global Hawk crashed in a remote section of eastern California near Mt. Edwards Air Force Base said in a statement that the unmanned surveillance aircraft was making a routine trip Wednesday, June 21, 2017, from Edwards to its usual home at Beale Air Force Base when it crashed for unknown reasons.

The Obama administration implemented rules that opened the skies to low-level small drones for education, research and routine commercial use. The Trump administration is considering whether to expand drone use for purposes such as deliveries where aircraft would fly beyond the sight of an operator. Security issues would need to be resolved.

There are flying cars and Concorde's would-be supersonic successor, a company offering to deliver cargo to the Moon - for a mere $1.2 million per kilogram - and the latest in funky futuristic aviation ideas, both big and small. No doubt about it: the Paris Air Show is an aerospace geek's paradise. But with everything from the smallest drones to the largest passenger jets on display, it's tough to sift through it all. So here's a guide to some of the cool things that caught our eye this week. Visitors looks at the flying car Pegasus 1, built by French entrepreneur Jerome Dauffy at Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, east of Paris, France, Tuesday, June 20, 2017 in Paris.

In a picnic area at General Electric Co.'s Global Research Center, a group of scientists and engineers are working on a new industrial revolution that will involve robots, drones and artificial intelligence. GE has been developing robot and artificial intelligence technologies for many years now. But these researchers in Niskayuna are part of GE's latest effort to monetize that technology with the launch of Avitas Systems, a new GE-created company being incubated in Boston with help from scientists here in the Capital Region. Avitas is creating technologies that will be artificial intelligence, or AI, combined with robots and predictive data analytics and software to provide high-tech inspection services to energy and transportation companies. On Tuesday, a team supervised by John Lizzi, director of robotics at GE Global Research, and Judy Guzzo, a project leader, were performing drone testing on a simulated oil rig flare stack.

Who needs fireworks when you've got drones? Or event tickets when you've got virtual reality? That's Intel's message as it prepares to bring technology to the 2018 Winter Olympics and future Olympic games. The company today announced that it had joined the Olympics partner program as a major sponsor through 2024. No dollar figures were mentioned at the press event, held in New York City and via web conference, however, the rumor mill has been pegging the deal at nine figures, or somewhere over $100 million. Intel was far more specific about the technologies it plans to deploy for the Olympics--drones, virtual reality, 5G communications, and artificial intelligence.

The US military says it has shot down an armed, Iran-made drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria's southeast. In the latest sign of increasingly frequent confrontation with Damascus and its allies, Tuesday's incident closely followed Sunday's US downing of a piloted Syrian army jet in the southern Raqqa countryside after it dropped bombs near US-backed forces. The Pentagon said a US F-15 aircraft, flying over Syrian territory, fired on the drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said it had "dirty wings", meaning it was armed. "I can tell you it was an Iranian-made drone," Davis said, declining to speculate on who was operating it.

Firefighters in Los Angeles could soon get a helping hand from drones to help track down missing hikers, examine risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces. A landmark vote by the Los Angeles City Council has allowed the department to seek authorisation for use of drones in the field. While the drones have the potential to save thousands of lives, not everyone is happy with the decision, with some saying the unmanned flying systems raise'serious privacy concerns.' Officials from the Fire Department confirmed that the drones will not be used for police surveillance, but to assess hazards in hard-to-reach places. This includes tracking down missing hikers, examining risks in buring buildings and examining confined spacess.