Semi-secret US Air Force long-endurance spy drone breaks cover

New Atlas ^ | July 3, 2024 | David Szondy

[Red Badger]

An open-secret American spy plane has broken cover after the US Air Force released photos of its Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA). Built by DZYNE, the semi-classified drone is now confirmed as deployed and active.

The recent unrest in the Middle East, and especially in the Red Sea have been a proving ground for Western military technology, tactics, and policy. The MQ-9 Reapers used for long-range reconnaissance to guard against terrorist attacks on shipping, as well as other on other missions, have been invaluable. Unfortunately, one hard lesson is that the Reaper is vulnerable and at a cost of US$30 million each, there have been a string of very expensive losses to enemy fire.

The reason for this price tag is that the Reaper began life as a ground strike aircraft that was later modified for reconnaissance missions. That's all well and good, but it later turned out that only about one in a hundred missions involved making attacks. Since a one-percent combat rate was a very large redundancy while putting a very expensive air frame at risk, the Air Force needed an alternative. And fast.

[PAR35]

About half. I remember seeing an article on it, it was either 40% or 60% of our electronic components used by the military come from China.

What percentage of electronic components used by Russia come from the US? Looks like the same percentages from US and EU combined. https://www.businessinsider.com/half-russia-imported-military-technology-us-eu-companies-ukraine-2024-1

[BobL]

In that case, Russia will simply bypass the US and buy the components from China.

Not very difficult.

[Samurai_Jack]

a souped up DG1000 glider.

[BerryDingle]

It will be “accidentally” landing unharmed in Iran in 7.....6....5.....4.....if it hasn’t already.

[Joe Boucher]

Looks like a glider