Posted on 01/31/2020 12:09:42 PM PST by Red Badger
The XQ-5A Valkyrie on a 2019 test flight AFRL
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The jet-powered XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrator drone has returned to the air three months after being damaged in a landing mishap. On January 23, the unmanned aircraft being developed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions completed its fourth flight test at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
The fourth in a planned schedule of five flights, the most recent test was designed to push the performance envelope of the Valkyrie. In particular, the flight took the drone to its highest altitude yet as engineers collected information on the vehicle's response to temperature and vibrations under conditions very similar to those found in operational flight. According to AFRL, all of the test objectives were met.
On October 9, 2019, the Valkyrie was grounded after a landing mishap at the end of a 90-minute flight. A safety Investigation Board found that the problem was with the drone’s provisional flight test recovery system and high surface winds during the final descent. Following the board's recommendations, the XQ-58A was once again cleared for flight.
The Valkyrie program is intended to demonstrate that is it possible to develop a combat drone from contract award to first flight in only 2.5 years, and with significantly lower building and operating costs.
The Valkyrie is a runway-independent, high-subsonic unmanned air vehicle. With its V-tail, central air intake, and trapezoidal fuselage for a stealth profile, it's part of an effort to develop combat drones that can act as escorts for F-22 or F-35 fighters as well as a surveillance and attack platform – both independently or as part of a UAV swarm.
The 29-ft (9 m) long Valkyrie has a wingspan of 22 ft (6.7 m), a top speed of 567 knots (652 mph, 1,050 km/h), a service ceiling of 44,997 ft (13,715 m), and a range of 2,128 nm (2,449 mi, 3,941 km). It can carry eight weapons, including JDAMs and other small diameter bombs.
The fifth and final flight is slated for later this year and will concentrate on the Valkyrie's ability to support operational needs.
"We’re very pleased with the outcome of this fourth flight test," says AFRL XQ-58A Program Manager Michael Wipperman. "We were able to show recovery for a successful flight at even higher altitudes. Given that we have overcome these challenges, we have confidence that the aircraft can continue its progression into flying in more representative conditions."
hmmm ... There is also a company, Valkyrie, involved in Drone development.
Do they have fat ladies that sing Wagnerian operas?................
Who the HECK is "Kratos Defense"? Boeing and Lockheed are out of the picture?
This is the first I've heard of this aircraft. In March 2019, Tyler Rogoway wrote "Just a week after Boeing unveiled their export-centric 'loyal wingman' combat drone concept, the Air Force Research Lab has announced that their own similar endeavor, dubbed the XQ-58A Valkyrie, has made its first flight. It also posted the very first image of the aircraft that has been developed under a veil of secrecy over the last two and half years."
It's amazing that the Boeing X45 UCAV (Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicle) died and Boeing is working on the "Loyal Wingman" successor program.
Kratos has a facility right down the street from where I sit.
Right across the street from Boeing and just down from Lockheed Martin...............
Clue.....................
It will “smoke”
My Pred “B” girls.
Looks sort of like a v-tailed V1.
While I am sure there are good reasons, I’m totally clueless as to why the F-22 or F-35 fighters need escorts. I thought fighters were escorts. Are they decoys? Flak fodder?
I remember two things my step-father predicted in the ‘60s. One, that cars would become so expensive that people would lease them rather than buy them and the other was that piloted aircraft would be replaced by drones. One has kind of come to pass and the other looks to be happening as well. He thought it would happen by the 80s at the latest, but still.
Now about the flying cars we were promised going back to the 40s.
All of the above................
Flying cars will never become a reality for common people.
Hell, they don’t even want us driving Ground Cars!...............
The biggest breakthrough of the F-35 is that it completely changes the concept of weapons load out from what you can carry on the aircraft to what you can deploy with loyal wingmen.
A loyal wingman can carry fuel for you, make an attack run for you, act as a decoy for you or neutralize a SAM -and a lot more
Boeing is (was?) developing it with Australia.
I’m just surprised that AFRL partnered with a small no-name firm. Seems somewhat like Skunk Works winning the XP-80 in 1943.
So what, they’re reusing names now. The XB-70 was called the Valkyrie.
It at least should be called the Valkyrie II, like the F-35 is the Lightning II.
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