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A new UAV is heading to Afghanistan, something more advanced than previous drones and much different: a jet powered member of the Predator family called the Avenger.
Originally developed to compete for the MQ-X contract that program was put on hold for budget reasons, but need overruled budgets and Avenger was already flying.
A parallel development is the Sea Avenger, intended to fly off supercarriers as a replacement for the EA-6B Prowler EINT (Electronic INTelligence) aircraft.
General characteristics
Crew: None (UAV)
Length: 41 ft (12 m)
Wingspan: 66 ft (20 m) sweep angle 17°
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney PW545B turbojet, 4,119 lbf (18.32 kN) thrust
Performance
Cruising speed: 460 mph; 740 km/h (400 kn)
Endurance: 20 hours with standard fuel
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,288 m)
Armament
Internal weapons bay: 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg)
Hardpoints: 4 per wing
Weapons: AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, GBU-24 Paveway III bombs, GBU-31, GBU-38 JDAMs, 70mm rocket pods (21 each)
Avionics
Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
AESA Wide-area surveillance sensor
A version of the F-35 Lightning II's Advanced Low-observable Embedded Reconnaissance Targeting (ALERT) targeting system
Originally developed to compete for the MQ-X contract that program was put on hold for budget reasons, but need overruled budgets and Avenger was already flying.
A parallel development is the Sea Avenger, intended to fly off supercarriers as a replacement for the EA-6B Prowler EINT (Electronic INTelligence) aircraft.
General characteristics
Crew: None (UAV)
Length: 41 ft (12 m)
Wingspan: 66 ft (20 m) sweep angle 17°
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney PW545B turbojet, 4,119 lbf (18.32 kN) thrust
Performance
Cruising speed: 460 mph; 740 km/h (400 kn)
Endurance: 20 hours with standard fuel
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,288 m)
Armament
Internal weapons bay: 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg)
Hardpoints: 4 per wing
Weapons: AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, GBU-24 Paveway III bombs, GBU-31, GBU-38 JDAMs, 70mm rocket pods (21 each)
Avionics
Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
AESA Wide-area surveillance sensor
A version of the F-35 Lightning II's Advanced Low-observable Embedded Reconnaissance Targeting (ALERT) targeting system
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