Robot Plane Drops Bomb in Successful California Test, Boeing Says

AP ^ | 4/18/04

[Brian Mosely]

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/ucav.html

[tet68]

Great Hera! A robot Plane???

[null and void]

[Brian Mosely]

[DefCon]

[null and void]

neener, neener, neener!

[reluctantwarrior]

Why does it take such a large plane to drop a small bomb? 15 million? Is it gold plated?

[gortklattu]

Robot Dogfighters and air supremacy aircraft are on the drawing boards. They'll be faster, more maneuverable, and virtually unbeatable.

[DefCon]

I wonder the same thing.
What does this gain us over, say, a cruise missle?
You had to have the gps coordinates in advance, but
I guess you get more bang on target than a cruise missle
On the other hand, flying at 400 mph and 35,000 feet,
is not 'terribly' risky for a manned flight.

[DefCon]

Well, at least didn't post the same pictures!
Almost like a coordinated effort...

[Lokibob]

Cruise missile, is a one time item, fire it and a million $ is gone. This guy can be reloaded and launched again.

In addition, the article didn't say how many it could carry, it only said that it carried and dropped one during this test.

I love the fact that it comes in choice of red, white , or blue trim.

[DannyTN]

Ok so how does this compare to the Predator?

[Eala]

Why does it take such a large plane to drop a small bomb?

Is that bomb the limits of its capacity? Or were they testing other capabilities -- such as being able to deliver a bomb to a specified target, which is somewhat irrelevant to the mass of the bomb (except in its descent phase)?

[Lokibob]

Predator fires Harm missiles, this guy drops bombs, big difference.

[Lokibob]

Sorry, the predator fires the hellfire missile, and anti- armor missile weighing around 100 lbs.

[CurlyDave]

15 million? Is it gold plated?

With fighter-bombers in the $100-200 million range this thing sounds very inexpensive to me.

Advantage over a cruise missile is that it is re-useable. Even if only 75-80% make it back that is a huge savings.

[RFEngineer]

"What does this gain us over, say, a cruise missle?"

One scenario: stealthily loitering over a target area, troops or operatives on the ground can send the coordinates directly to the X45. As soon as they are transmitted and loaded into the JDAMs on board, it's bombs away.

JDAM costs a lot less than a cruise missile.

This will retire the F117 if it goes operational.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Was the test successful?
Please, Please tell me Hollyweird or Malibu ain't there anymore!

[Eastbound]

That would look great parked in my carport next to my "We Don't Dial 911" sign.

[RFEngineer]

".... they testing other capabilities "

Standard flight test. Bomb separation is not a trivial thing. Bombs can hit the plane that drops them - it's happened before. That this was successful is a significant milestone. They no doubt will test multiple bombs, different types/shapes and different altitudes.

Best part about this though is that flight-test can progress at a rapid pace because there are no golden-arm test pilots to deal with........it's a flight test engineer's dream!