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New 'Flying Dinosaur' Drone to Look Like Pterodactyl
foxnews ^ | Thursday, October 09, 2008

Posted on 10/09/2008 4:19:47 PM PDT by Justice Department

Pterodactyls may have gone extinct millions of years ago, but a newly designed spy plane could bring the flying reptiles to life, albeit replacing blood and guts with carbon fiber and batteries.

"The next generation of airborne drones won't just be small and silent," the design team announced recently. "They'll alter their wing shapes using morphing techniques to squeeze through confined spaces, dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses, land on apartment balconies, or sail along the coastline."

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: drone; miltech; pterodactyl; spy; stealth; weapons
Its design will be inspired by one of the savviest movers of the Cretaceous, a pterosaur called Tapejara wellnhoferi. This ancient reptile was a morphing machine.


1 posted on 10/09/2008 4:19:47 PM PDT by Justice Department
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To: Justice Department
Tapejara


2 posted on 10/09/2008 4:22:39 PM PDT by Justice Department ("Comedy is allied to justice." Aristophenes)
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To: Justice Department

3 posted on 10/09/2008 4:24:59 PM PDT by Justice Department ("Comedy is allied to justice." Aristophenes)
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To: Justice Department
The Reaper, a "persistent hunter-killer" drone, is our latest upgrade to the hugely successful predator. Much larger, able to fly higher, further, longer and able to deliver a bigger punch, the Reaper has been deployed to Afghanistan to join the search for Osama bin Laden.

The Reaper can carry a combination of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II bombs and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, to a total of about 1.5 tons. (The Predator, by contrast, can carry just 200 pounds, or a pair of Hellfire missiles.)


4 posted on 10/09/2008 4:29:29 PM PDT by Justice Department ("Comedy is allied to justice." Aristophenes)
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