MQ-X: next Predator

[Dr Mordrid]

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works showed this MQ-X concept at the Air Force Association's convention in DC. The Air Force plans to use MQ-X first to augment then replace the Predator and Reaper drones.

No specs yet, but IMO that wide body screams internal munitions and very likely enhanced stealth capabilities.

[Elie]

With a prop at the tail, I can drop this thing with an AK47.

It needs to be jet propelled!

[Dr Mordrid]

Being propped hasn't hurt the Predator or Reaper, which are battlefield UAV's and fly far higher than an AK could ever reach; 25,000 feet at which altitude it can read your plates....at night....and see through fog, smoke or whatever with advanced focusing radars.

For long range missions we use the much larger, very high altitude (>65,000 feet...very > in practice) and jet propelled RQ-4 Global Hawk. GH can stay up for >36 hours.

[Technoid]

Military and politicians love these birds, they can wage wars without any us military getting hurt, no voters that gets in an uproar over dead us soldiers, it's great

The "everything is remote controlled robots with AI coming down the pipe" development is a really ****ing scary thought for the rest of the world

[Wulfman]

one hopes they encrypt the sat-uplink this time. insurgents tap into predator video feeds

[Dr Mordrid]

With a prop at the tail, I can drop this thing with an AK47.

It needs to be jet propelled!

Prop driven using modern blade profiles makes it quiet when flying low, very quiet, and low-visual observable techs (remember those electro-optical camo's?) make them harder than hell to see from the ground.

Wulfman:

Old news - that was discovered months ago, and I'd not base my terrorist arse's safety on a Predator A feed anyhow - other UAV's like the Reaper (Predator B) and soon Avenger (Predator C) could be in the area and they use a different system. Avenger uses some of the F-35 Lightning II's targeting and radar systems.

BTW: the Global Hawk Block 40 is now in test flights

The first of the next generation of Northrop Grumman’s Block 40 configuration RQ-4 Global Hawk has successfully completed its first flight. The two hour flight took the aircraft from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California to Edwards Air Force Base, California. Designated AF-18, the Block 40 configuration of the high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) will carry the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) active electronically scanned array radar that will help warfighters detect, track and identify stationary and moving targets.

Northrop Grumman tout the Global Hawk as providing the safest and most cost-effective and efficient means of gathering intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information over a vast geographic area without putting anyone in harm’s way. Flying at altitudes up to 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours per sortie at speeds approaching 340 knots, the MP-RTIP-equipped Block 40 Global Hawk can persistently see through most type of weather, day or night and is the world's first fully autonomous HALE UAS.

The aircraft is flown autonomously by flight control software under the direct supervision of a pilot. The pilot does not physically manipulate the control surfaces in flight but instead, he commands the computer to take action when needed, or the system can be left alone and fly a complete pre-programmed mission.

Takeoff and landing are software controlled and poor weather is not a limiting factor for operation like it can be for other unmanned systems. The company says this allows the pilot and crew to focus on executing the national security intelligence collection mission, collecting thousands of pixels full of critical security intelligence, while the aircraft is flown by the sophisticated flight control computer.

When fully fueled for flight, the Block 20/30/40 weighs approximately 32,250 pounds. More than half the system's components are constructed of lightweight, high-strength composite materials, including its wings, wing fairings, empennage, engine cover, nacelles, and three radomes. Its main fuselage is standard aluminum, semi-monocoque construction.

This first flight marks the end of an era, as Global Hawk production acceptance activities will transition in the near future from Edwards Air Force Base to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, to improve efficiency and flow of company products. The AF-18 is the eleventh of the next-gen Global Hawk Block 20/30/40s to arrive at Edwards and is the first of 15 Block 40 Global Hawk aircraft scheduled for fielding to Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, in 2010.

Avenger (yes, a jet but it's to operate at higher altitudes and it uses sound reducing techs
like those developed for other stealth aircraft to reduce their audio profile)

[Wulfman]

even if it is old news, it is still quite some cockup.

mfg
wulfman