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2009-07-30 Science & Technology

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Posted by Anonymoose 2009-07-30 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Beautiful!

It looks a bit Stealthy...

Posted by 3dc 2009-07-30 00:16|| 2009-07-30 00:16|| Front Page Top

#2 Stealthy? Perhaps but I don't know about those ruddervators.

Posted by tipover 2009-07-30 00:43|| 2009-07-30 00:43|| Front Page Top

#3 With an aerial refueling capability it could stay aloft as long as it has ordinance and only come home for maintenance/reload. You could literally loiter over an area for a week. They would need a serious engine overhaul facility, though, if they pushed those things that hard. Overhaul interval is 10,000 hours.

Posted by crosspatch 2009-07-30 01:15|| 2009-07-30 01:15|| Front Page Top

#4 I still like my idea of 'disposable' drones - glorified Radio Shack planes air-deployed over target area in launch pods, which can then be flown right into windows or cars or even people as kamikazes. Swarms of big, mad, explosive hornets silencing snipers in minarets (or even just those annoying screechers.)

Posted by Glenmore 2009-07-30 08:29|| 2009-07-30 08:29|| Front Page Top

#5 The comm gear alone on drones is expensive. Spike is better than suicide.

Posted by ed 2009-07-30 09:09|| 2009-07-30 09:09|| Front Page Top

#6 Glenmore: I'm projecting two classes of UAVs, the high quality, even turning supersonic, yet still being very maneuverable; and the "expendable item" UAVs, that are built in sheer numbers for air armadas.

Of the latter group, the smallest would be a "flying shotgun", with a light plastic, one use barrel, and a cheapie camera. Alternatively, it could fire a penetrating HE round against a suspected IED. In either case it would destroy the aircraft.

The next largest would be something like a model aircraft, carrying one pound of C-4 surrounded with another pound of ball bearings, and a cheapie camera to guide it in to the target.

Next largest would carry a light machine gun with a thousand rounds, likely 5.56mm, purely for strafing an enemy in the open.

Several more models doing various things, and the largest model, about as expensive as a small, used car, and likely with a prop engine, that could carry several different loads, like twin .50 cal MG, a couple of 250 lb Small Diameter Bombs, etc.

Posted by Anonymoose 2009-07-30 10:21|| 2009-07-30 10:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Comms gear is expensive because the development costs are amortised over only a few units.

The build cost should be really low. Think of the power in a 3g mobile. Mine has 5MP camera, GPS, compass, accelerometer, TCP/IP & HTTP(S), VOIP, a flat touch screen and weighs 100grams. The expensive bit is the touch-screen, so you should easily be able to write a flight program on a platform that costs <500dollars.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-07-30 10:51|| 2009-07-30 10:51|| Front Page Top

#8 'Zactly, Anonymoose.

Posted by Glenmore 2009-07-30 10:53|| 2009-07-30 10:53|| Front Page Top

#9 The comm gear alone on drones is expensive

ed, get the government out of the bid specs ("made of #3 gray type C plastic at plant in Cong. Dist F etc.), and just define performance needs (deliver shotgun blast at X square foot target Z% of the time, deployed and controlled from Y meters.)

Posted by Glenmore 2009-07-30 10:58|| 2009-07-30 10:58|| Front Page Top

#10 I believe the Army is now calling them UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) vs UAV. Not certain when when the name change began.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-07-30 15:47|| 2009-07-30 15:47|| Front Page Top

#11 The previous aircraft given the name 'Avenger' was the WWII torpedo bomber that George Bush (the elder) flew - and crashed.

Posted by Glenmore 2009-07-30 16:25|| 2009-07-30 16:25|| Front Page Top

#12 Avenger is also the name of the GAU-8 that the A-10 was built around.

Posted by OldSpook 2009-07-30 21:46|| 2009-07-30 21:46|| Front Page Top

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