Posted on 09/08/2009 1:07:32 PM PDT by luckybogey
Phantom Ray will pick up where the UCAS program left off in 2006 by further demonstrating Boeing’s unmanned systems development capabilities in a fighter-sized, state-of-the-art aerospace system. The Boeing UCAS program began with the X-45A, which successfully flew 64 times from 2002 to 2005. Those flights included a demonstration exercise with two X-45A aircraft that marked the first unmanned, autonomous multivehicle flight under the control of a single pilot...]
...Currently planned Dec. 2, the Air Force Flight Test Center’s B-52 will carry the X-51A to 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean then release it. A solid rocket booster from an ATACMS missile will then ignite and accelerate the X-51 to about Mach 4.5. Then the supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion system will propel the vehicle for five minutes to more than Mach 6...]
The Navy is expanding the experimental robo-plane’s set of missions; not only will it be expected to take off from a carrier; it’s now supposed to autonomously refuel in mid-flight, as well. And Northrop Grumman, which is making a pair of X-47B drones for the $600 million, five-year program, is showing off its first completed aircraft...The company says the X-47B will “now undergo subsystem and structural testing in preparation for first flight in fall 2009.” Carrier trials for the killer drone are scheduled for 2011...]
The A160 program is developing an unmanned helicopter for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, with long endurance – up to 20 hours – and the ability to hover at high altitudes. In 2008, the A160 set a world record for UAV endurance when it completed an 18.7 hour endurance flight...
(Excerpt) Read more at luckybogey.wordpress.com ...
Not if Obama hears of this. If there are no minority Democrat union member switch flippers permanently designed into it, it will get canceled.
Current operational title: “Right Wing Extremist Killer”
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