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| Terror Networks |
| A golden eye in the sky |
| 2003-07-05 |
| From the Economist - paid subscription so no link, sorry. If you can get you hands on the print edition, there is a cool photograph. AMERICA'S armed forces sometimes ask for very strange things. So, when DARPA, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, asked Aurora, a company based in Manassas, Virginia, to design an unmanned aerial vehicle that was quiet, small, could fly for several hours on autopilot, and could deliver two cylinders the size of Coke cans to a distant location, Aurora happily obliged. The result, called GoldenEye (they take their James Bond seriously, it seems), is scheduled to make its first test flight in the next couple of weeks. The craft is a stubby cylinder, 1.7 metres tall, with wings that measure 3 metres from end to end. Unladen, it weighs just under 70kg, and it can carry an additional 20kg of fuel and payload, including cameras and the mysterious cylinders. Carl Schaefer, an engineer at Aurora, says that the design of GoldenEye is unique. Its engine, known as a ducted fan, is a propeller shrouded within the cylinder. This makes it quiet at a distance of 150 metres it is no louder than a nearby conversation. It also makes it safe to use the craft in crowded, urban areas, which should, in turn, make GoldenEye appealing to police forces (who have to worry about the safety of civilians) as well as the armed forces. Another of GoldenEye's features is vertical take-off. Its wings are not rigidly attached to its body, but rotate independently. This allows it to go straight up like a helicopter, and then to level off into horizontal flight. Once level, it can fly at 260kph for up to four hours. Mr Schaefer says that the transition from vertical to horizontal flight is the trickiest bit to manage, because the craft is aerodynamically unstable while it is flipping over. The trick is done by a computerised control system that rapidly adjusts the craft's various flaps to keep it flying. The same system can navigate the craft to a preselected point automatically, thus minimising radio transmissions and allowing it to work clandestinely. Not everything about GoldenEye needs to be secret. Ed Smith, Aurora's director of business development, is optimistic about the prospects of selling it to customers other than the federal government. The firm is developing a half-scale commercial version, which weighs just over 7kg. Although it can carry a payload of only a couple of kilograms, this is sufficient to accommodate a camera. Mr Smith expects that law-enforcement agencies will be big customers for this small version. It could, for example, allow coastguards to have a bird's-eye view of a ship before boarding it at sea. And, at a mere $50,000 a pop, it will, Aurora hopes, be cheap enough for local police forces to afford. The coppers, though, will be unable to receive deliveries of mysterious cylinders. That privilege will be reserved for America's spies. But the spooks should now be able to rest a bit easier in the knowledge that, if they get thirsty, the best Coke delivery system that money can buy is ready to serve them. I have no idea what this for, but is an interesting insight on where UAVs are going. |
| Posted by:Phil_B |