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| Science & Technology |
| Skunkworks: UAV for Ohio-class submarines |
| 2006-03-29 |
| Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, famed for the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes that flew higher than anything else in the world in their day, is trying for a different altitude record: an airplane that starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater. The Cormorant, a stealthy, jet-powered, autonomous aircraft that could be outfitted with either short-range weapons or surveillance equipment, is designed to launch out of the Trident missile tubes in some of the U.S. Navy’s gigantic Cold War–era Ohio-class submarines. These formerly nuke-toting subs have become less useful in a military climate evolved to favor surgical strikes over nuclear stalemates, but the Cormorant could use their now-vacant tubes to provide another unmanned option for spying on or destroying targets near the coast. [..] see artwork at link |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #2 UAVs are the *cash-cow of the industry, none/little of the liability risk of human death, which translates into massive savings across the industry. That and no ECS/Enviro systems which in mil terms means more payload. * Hope that is, everyone in the industry is working on them, but when they really flood the industry it will be interesting to see what happens with Unit/Volumn margins. Nobody really knows now. |
| Posted by: bombay 2006-03-29 20:25 |
| #1 ...Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane to the Flying Sub, please... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-03-29 12:38 |