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| Science & Technology |
| New Military Drone Passes Vertical Takeoff Test |
| 2009-07-24 |
| It flies like a butterfly, and boy, will it sting a lot more than a bee. Aurora Flight Sciences recently tested a half-scale model of its new Excalibur unmanned aerial vehicle, or "drone" to the rest of us. Unlike the military's Predator and Reaper drones currently in use along the Afghan-Pakistani border, the Excalibur won't need a runway. That's because it's a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft. Like a Harrier jet, it rises straight up off the ground before using forward thrust like a regular jet. Three horizontally mounted propellers help a tilting turbojet push the craft up, and are then stowed away as the jet drops into flight position. The model tested on June 24 is only 13 feet long with a 10-foot wingspan, but Aurora hopes the successful flight test will help it secure additional Pentagon funding for a full-scale version with roughly twice the dimensions. The final version should be able to cruise along at 460 mph, near the speed of sound, and carry four Hellfire missiles. By comparison, the Predator maxes out at 135 mph and carries two Hellfires. The Reaper does about 300 mph, but can carry up to 14 Hellfires, or a combination of Hellfires and laser-guided bombs. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #7 D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, "YOU WERE THERE" WITH MTV BAND QUEENSRYCHE, PENN STATE + "SEARCH AND DESTROY ARMOR"! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-07-24 22:34 |
| #6 'moose it was lost along with PG&E street cars Off your meds again, I see. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-07-24 22:16 |
| #5 Throw some odd capitalizations in there, Ship, and you're Joe-worthy ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-07-24 13:34 |
| #4 'moose it was lost along with PG&E street cars when GM get wise. Ever notice they're no phish-carb public transit? Ever wonder why? It's right in front of your noses. Most of this shit was either buried in cermaic cases in area 51 (Operation Stroganof) or launched in a failsafe orbit to the Heliosphere - except for one dark launch which ion booster failed and dropped a load on Ludawici GA. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-07-24 11:36 |
| #3 Two points. Except as CAS, VTOL seems counter productive, because it burns up a lot of fuel. Second, I wonder why in blazes we haven't developed a fanwing-type aircraft? A fanwing uses a "paddlewheel" type prop for lift and propulsion. It has a much better lift for power ratio than a helicopter, is mechanically simpler, quieter, and more scalable. It is also very stable in flight. Unfortunately, the British have the patents, and at their current rate of development will have a working aircraft in about 200 years. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-07-24 10:42 |
| #2 "460 mph, near the speed of sound" What moron wrote this? It ain't near - it ain't even in the same neighborhood. (Same city, though.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-07-24 10:07 |
| #1 460 MPH is "near the speed of sound"? I guess I look near as good as Brad Pitt then. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-07-24 09:06 |