Northrop’s Stealthy Drone Breaks Cover… And It Has A Cockpit!?

The War Zone ^ | August 9, 2024 | Tyler Rogoway

[Red Badger]

AVIATION PING!........................

[BenLurkin]

[MtnClimber]

I want one!

[sphinx]

Optionally manned, with a cockpit ... I always thought that the pilot, and all the systems required to keep him alive, had become the key limiting design factor. The weight and space savings of eliminating all that is a huge gain for UAVs.

At least we know that Tom Cruise is good to go with the next installments to Top Gun. He must be celebrating.

[Brian Griffin]

I would think a drone would often best be a flying machine as small as can carry a lethal weapon.

small, cheap, plentiful, lethal

[V_TWIN]

“it has a cockpit”

Perhaps the development of cyborgs is further advanced than we know. 🤔

Working around Naval aviation for so long I’ve thought for a while that the aircraft performance is at the brink of what a human pilot can tolerate and one day all fighter jets will be flown remotely.

Also, a little of topic but why advertise your weaponry? 🤷

When it comes to our military weapons do we really need to know?

[V_TWIN]

Agree, see my post 7

[Laslo Fripp]

Verrryy intelesting

[Red Badger]

My guess is that this can be both a drone and a prototype for a new fighter..............

[I-ambush]

The cockpit is for the corps of genetically modified chimpanzees the DOD is developing.

[nwrep]

Why are we still celebrating the military industrial complex pukes and their DEI stunts (notice the women aircraft workers intentionally highlighted)?

[Jotmo]

I have the answer.

Brake rider.

Yep.

The USAF has always had a rule that aircraft cannot be towed anywhere without someone in the cockpit ready to stomp on the brakes in case the tow bar got disconnected for some reason. The “Brake Rider”.

I guess the safety goons in the Air Force were unwilling to compromise.

[Gen.Blather]

The German V1’s were fitted with a cockpit so that they could be flight tested. After they’d perfected the design for flight the cockpit was deleted and replaced with a bomb.

[GreyFriar]

The early prototypes of the V-1 flying bomb, Fieseler Fi 103 [Flakzielgerät 76 (FZG-76)] had a cockpit. Famed German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch did several test flights in a piloted version of it. That version never went into production.

[Red Badger]

I bet there weren’t many V1 test pilots left after the war.................

[Track9]

Where else are you going to put the inflatable pilot.

[bigbob]

Looks like a Bonanza on steroids

[Yo-Yo]

My theory: When the F-35 was being developed from the X-35, the airframe and powerplant were relatively easy, but the integrated software and processors required for the novel sensor fusion to drive the Helmet Mounted Cueing System (HMCS) that replaced the Heads Up Display (HUD) on the cockpit dash was harder to develop than anticipated. This delayed the F-35 by almost 10 years. Software is a continuing issue for the F-35.

If this aircraft is supposed to be a fully autonomous flying vehicle that can perform meaningful combat missions, then the software to do so will be years (maybe decades) away from being ready, so putting a pilot and controls in the test airframe will allow development of the aircraft and powerplant without having to wait for software. (That may never arrive...)

[Red Badger]

I bet there weren’t many V1 test pilots left after the war.................