Europe's nEUROn UCAV

[Dr Mordrid]

Like the US, a consortium of European companies are developing an unmanned combat air vehicle - this bird being named nEUROn. The consortium consists of France/Dassault; Greece/Hellenic Aerospace Industries; Italy/Alenia Aeronautica; Spain/EADS; Sweden/Saab; and Switzerland/Ruag.

Much like our X-47B, nEUROn looks to initially fill the fighter/bomber role in a very stealthy manner, with large portions of its mission being autonomously flown. The first test aircrafts wings were recently delivered to Dassault by EADS. The airframe is being built by SAAB. The top pic is a mockup to show scale, the bottom is concept art.

Crew: 0
Length: 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 12.5 m (41 ft 0 in)
Gross weight: 6,000 kg (13,000 lb)
Maximum speed: Mach 0.8
Armaments: dual bomb bays - guided munitions

[VJ]

I always find it surprising to see that the designers come up with far different designs for UAV than for regular planes.
I know a regular plane needs a cockpit, and the plane is centered around that, but when removing the cockpit, they give it a complete redesign: different tail configurations (no rudder!), ... They could have just gone with more traditional designs without a cockpit...

[Evildead666]

A rear vertical rudder would reflect radar signals.
Its that flat so that very little gets sent back to the radar station.

[Dr Mordrid]

Exactly. and manned aircraft will be going tail-less too as time passes - even airliners. Avionics computers are cheaper than building tails & their control/support structures, plus it ups fuel economy (less drag.)

[VJ]

Yes, but it is just one example... there is no stabilzer also... Just the whole design looks far more futuristic, and this is often the case for unmanned aircraft. I wonder if the manufacturers consider there is less risk involved (if it crashes, no pilot lost) so they are less weary to try different designs.

[Dr Mordrid]

New designs are always tested as unmanned subscale drones, then upscaled. The really new features like stabilators, combined tail & rudders, go into military planes first because they upaneuverability. This because they are inherently unstable, with triple redundant computers making 1,000+ corrections/second. Without this type of design & control planes like B-2 (tail-less), F-22, F-35, various Russian designs etc. would fall from the skies.

Thank you Hugo Junkers, Kelly Johnson, Artem Mikoyan, & Burt Rutan

[VJ]

I know those things... you are missing my point...

It just surprises me how different they make all those unmanned planes look. It is almost as if the started a new chapter and just threw out all the old designs.
There is no reason why they couldn't make such designs for manned (military) aircraft, yet is is almost never done... apart from the occasional prototype or flying wing. The F22, F35, ... they all look similar to the old F16 and other military jets of the last 30-35 years. But the unmanned planes suddenly open a whole new box of tricks. It was just an observation..

[Dr Mordrid]

Without the compromises necessary for the pilot form can better reflect function and the recent advances in aerospace tech. Wait 'til you see the coming aircraft with flexible & articulated wings - or those with wing leading edges modeled after the fins of humpback whales. Or both at once.

Then there is the fact that the radical maneuverability such designs allow would create G-loads that would kill a pilot. Some of these are being designed to pull 20-30 G's for evading, and later outclassing in a dogfight, any manned fighter. This is where X-47B is headed.

[Evildead666]

Exactly. No Pilot, Carte Blanche