Artist's impression only
Artist's impression only
Dang it, i got to read closer. I was all excited and thought the Navy was doing something with a B-47. I was amazed, happy, mystified. I likes me cold war jets :) !!!
And i like em polished and shiny!
More range, longer hang time, no or few G-problems.., greater payload, even kamikaze options, could be cheaper costs on some or all models, an unplanned for threat, benefits not even known now..., a game changer.. etc..
An unmanned drone landing on a pitching carrier?
I can see why they’re making such a fuss.
/
Why are these UCV’s starting to remind me of those in the Terminator movies? lol
MANY capabilities of carriers have been radically improved, however the question of range has not been improved NEARLY as much as most people believe —mostly missions occur within 500 or so miles of the carrier. This is not a huge improvement over the 1940’s.
Improvement of ASM’s mean that the Navy still worries about carrier safety —they want the persistence that has brought so much success to the AF and Army.
China’s recent development of ASBM’s makes this need all the more dire.
I...am tempted to recommend that the USN just commit 100% to the X-47, and screw the F-35, maybe.
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This idea seems stupid. What do you think?
In the 80’s the Navy was working on a program for rocket boosted artillery shells from battleships. I believe they would have had a max range of 200+ miles. ( and by today I think the range would have been substantially more) Since something like 80% of the world’s population lives with 200 miles of navigable water..the idea of the New Jersey lying offshore and lobbing in those big shells with pinpoint accuracy would have been awesome..and a lot cheaper than Tomahawks at $1 mil+ @. Unfortunately, the Navy scrapped the plan, and the battlewagons..