Posted on 06/25/2006 1:45:41 PM PDT by Gideon7
For years, the U.S. military has wanted a plane that could loiter just outside enemy territory for more than a dozen hours and, on command, hurtle toward a target faster than the speed of sound. And then level it.
But aircraft that excel at subsonic flight are inefficient at Mach speeds, and vice versa. The answer is Switchblade, an unmanned, shape-changing plane concept under development by Northrop Grumman.
When completed (target date: 2020), it will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back.
This oblique configuration redistributes the shock waves that pile up in front of a plane at Mach speeds and cause drag. When the Switchblade returns to subsonic speeds, the wing will rotate back to perpendicular...
If all goes well, Darpa says, a 40-foot-wingspan demonstration model could be ready by 2010, and a full-size Switchblade should be all set for a brawl by 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
/johnny
ME P.1109: This project number is not entirely certain, as the original document is damaged and barely readable. This was a further development of Dr. Vogt's work on the BV P.202 dated July 15, 1944, and was similar in that the sweep of the wings could be varied to improve low-speed flight characteristics. There were two variable-sweep wings, one above and one below the fuselage. Two He S 011 turbojets were mounted in nacelles and were located on each side of the fuselage. Apparently, this design was the subject of some further development after the war, according to some sketches discovered in France, but it is not known whether this was done by Messerschmitt or some other firm.
And this is not the only one from the Nazi's aviation braintrust that features variable wings...
They should just mount a big spring on the back of the wing where it attaches to the body of the plane with a hinge. As the plane speeds up, the wing folds back. Jeesh. Simple.
I built one of those as a kid, an Estes model rocket. The wing was held in-line to the tube body with a rubber band. When the rocket motor ejected at apogee, the swing snapped out and away it flew.
It went a looong way. Never did recover it :-)
talk about assymmetric!
Geesh.
Here's one of them:
Now, that's deadly.
Then it's obviously my time to go. Let the undertaker leave the smile on my face. 8>)
/johnny
Pravada is russian propaganda garbage. Counter coup group in washington. LOL! love the idiotic sensationlism. Im sure the brainwashed russians lap this up like milk. Sheeple.
you got any napalm on them 'taters ?
Unless some nutcase unleashes nuclear weapons, which I highly doubt will happen since I believe "nukular weapons" are still a scare tactic used by the powers that be, groundtroops have always won the battles.
JMHO
FMCDH(BITS)
A real Honey Trap.
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