UAVs with lasers as weapons coming sooner than you might think!

December 23rd, 2012   Filed under: combat uav, laser, laser uav, uav, uav airplane, uavs Add Comment

UAV’s using lasers as a weapon, seems ridiculous and undeveloped right? Wrong. I read some interesting information today about how the major UAV airplane manufacturer General Atomics has been working hard on developing a high powered laser to stop incoming missiles and airplanes with nearly unlimited ammo. Striking at the speed of light the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) could cause some serious changes in the way we use our UAVs in the air today. In the past four years the Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) has given contractor General Atomics $60 million to develop the program. This laser will boast a powerful 150kW ray capable of doing some serious damage.
concept uav
Concept of laser weapons used by UAVs
Photo: fastcompany.com
Currently lasers of that strength are too large and heavy to be carried on planes, but are still able to destroy an incoming rocket or plane. This means they can only be outfitted to work on stationary systems as opposed to a moving UAV airplane that needs to be light weight. DARPA says the laser is in the “final development stage,” and has reduced weight at only 750kg. This opens up a whole new array of uses for lasers as weapons. The use of the laser for my concern is with UAVs. These lasers could bring forth a brand new fighting technique and revolutionize the battlefield, again. General Atomics expects the lasers use to be multiplied by using it with their newer Predator drone.
General Atomics believes that the most useful technique for the drones with the laser capability is to fly in a large “swarm.” The units will be integrated to overcome even large defense networks with the only loss to be a few relatively inexpensive drones. These bold claims do of course need to be weighed with other reservations but the outlook is currently very positive. The US Air Force sees drones as crucial to the future but whether or not the Predator will be the drone to do it is still under speculation due to the fact that neither the laser or drone are in mass production yet. Currently Russia, Israel, and other leading nations and arms manufacturers say they are working on their own version of the similar portable lasers, but the US is currently in the lead for developing advanced laser equipped UAVs.

The EADS Barracuda unmanned combat airplane

December 8th, 2012   Filed under: combat uav, jet airplane, the airplane, uav airplane, UAV related, uavs, ucav Add Comment

I bring to you today some information on another reconnaissance and combat UAV airplane. The EADS Barracuda  is an European unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and is currently under development by the company EADS. This UAV airplane is intended for reconnaissance as well as combat. Germany and Spain have teamed up to develop this aircraft and add the UAV airplane to their military. The first development of the project was stopped after the first prototype crashed at sea while approaching for a landing during a test flight. The UAV airplane project resumed in 2008 with the second prototype finished in November, 2008. The rebuilt Barracuda went through a series of successful and promising test flights in Goose Bay, Canada during the middle of 2009.  Further tests of the UAV airplane continued in 2010 and 2012.
eads uav
Source: defencetalk.com
 The Barracuda unmanned airplane is in competition primarily with the Dassault nEUROn for defense contracts. Both UAV airplanes are designed with stealth in mind and have around the same top airspeed of Mach 0.85. Not too much is known about this UCAV due to the classified nature of the project  but speculation says that it will have a ceiling of about 20,000ft and will be able to carry a payload of 300kg.

uav airplane
Comparison of UCAV types including the Barracuda, X-45a, X-47a, and the Sky-X
Photo: abovetopsecret.com
With a wingspan of 7.22m and a length of 8.25m and a weight of three tons this UAV airplane is classified as medium size. The engine is made by Pratt and Whitney Canada and produces a huge amount of thrust at 14kN. Room under the fuselage is left for addition sensors that may wish to be carried  for different applications of the unmanned combat airplane. The control systems for the UCAV are fly-by-wire, with the landing gear controlled by hydraulics. The Barracuda system was designed as a technology test bed with a modular structure and a interchangeable configuration. This should enable a wide variety of types of missions to be flown. 

X-47B updates and news

November 29th, 2012   Filed under: combat uav, drone, northrop grumman, predator uav, uav airplane, uav predator, UAV related, uavs, ucav, unmanned airplane, x-47b Add Comment
uav northrop grumman
Navy version of the X-47B UCAV
Source: mail2web.com

Hey everyone, today I’m going to bring you some updates on the X-47B UCAV. The first successful shore based, or on carrier deck, trial of the X-47B was in early November. The goal of the U.S Navy and Northrop Grumman is to make the X-47B capable of being operated from a hectic aircraft carrier deck. Northrop Grumman’s UCAS-D test director, Daryl Martis, reported that the CDU’s capability of controlling the crafts thrust as well as other functions such as roll break and stop is crucial for its ability to be flown from deck. “It will allow us to move the aircraft quickly and precisely into the catapult for launch, or out of the landing area following recovery. Both of these activities are essential to maintaining the rhythm of the flight deck.” (Martis 2012).

For operational purposes the deck operator and the director will stand one behind the other as the director via hand signals indicates where the craft should be moved to as the deck operator uses the CDU to carry out these operations.  The first shore-based catapults are scheduled for later this month, this test should help to prove  the CDU’s performance in an accurate (carrier deck) environment.     

Northrop Grumman’s X-47B

November 6th, 2012   Filed under: airplane, boeing, combat uav, government spending, northrop grumman, uav, uav airplane, UAV related, usaf, x-47b 2 Comments

The X-47B first flew in 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, it began as a project for DARPA’s J-UCAS program but soon adopted the goal of becoming a carrier based unmanned air craft and is now part of the United States Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration program. The Northrop Grumman X-47B is similar to the Boeing X-45, the original concept design being the X-47A Pegasus that first flew in 2003.
The aircraft is 38.2 ft in length and has a wingspan of 62.1 ft extended/30.9 ft folded. Its height is 10.4 ft with a maximum takeoff weight of 44,567 lb (empty weight of 14,000 lb). In 2000 the Navy gave contracts of $2 million to both Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a 15-month concept-exploration, with a specific goal in mind. The concept had to take into account the corrosive saltwater environment, launch and recovery on deck, integration with command and control systems, and operation in an aircraft carrier’s high-electromagnetic-interference environment, as well as the ability to perform reconnaissance missions.
Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

The Navy chose Northrop Grumman’s X-47B in 2006 after the J-UCAS program was cut and the navy began its own UAV program. The X-47B has an unrefueled range of over 2,000 miles (3,200 km), and an endurance of more than six hours. In November of 2011 the Navy announced that aerial refueling equipment would be added to one of the prototypes in 2014. After performing so consistently during the preliminary test flights, The X-47B will be used to demonstrate carrier launches and recoveries, as well as unmanned in-flight refueling with a probe and drogue.

May 2012, at Patuxent River, AV-1 began high-intensity electromagnetic interference testing to ascertain its compatibility with planned electronic warfare systems. The project was started out funded under a US$635.8-million contract awarded by the Navy in 2007. However, by January 2012, the X-47B’s total program cost had grown to an estimated $813 million. 

Boeing X-45 combat UAV

November 3rd, 2012   Filed under: boeing, combat uav, northrop grumman, predator uav, reconnaissance, uav, uav airplane, uav predator, UAV related, uavs, ucav, usaf 2 Comments

Built by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems the Boeing X-45 is part of the J-UCAS project for the next generation of military aircraft that are completely autonomous. It took its first flight on may 22 2002, however there have only been two of these  concept demonstrators built. The craft sports a very low profile dorsal intake, a stream line center fuselage, swept lambda wing, no vertical control surface and minuet exhaust. The X-45 was developed using research from the development of the Bird of Prey, however they have eliminated the pilot and requirements of such in favor of autonomous piloting which takes a chunk out of the total cost of the aircraft.


ucav airplane
Photo: Jim Ross, NASA
            Phantom works created the first model of two models of the X-45A, in September of 2000. at Edwards Air Force Base, the X-45A successfully had its first bomb run test hitting the ground target with  a 250-pound inert precision-guided munition. The X-45′s goal was to “conduct suppression of enemy air defense missions with unmanned combat air vehicles.” The technology demonstrator program was designed with air to ground roles in mind as well as air to air capabilities. The National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is were both X-45A’s have resided since 2006 after their flight test program completion.

Photo: defence.pk
            The next project the X-45C Boeing modified to have even more fuel capacity and three times greater combat range then the X-45A.The X-45C also had a greater wing area and a platform similar to the B-2 Spirits. The autonomous aerial refueling of the X-45C was Boeing’s goal to reach by 2010, using a KC-135 Stratotanker. However, the US Air Force decided not to continue with the X-45 project on March 2, 2006.