Lockheed Martin SkunkWorks P-175 Polecat UAV

[Steve Pace]

What about the number 864?

 

[Stargazer]

Is Howard the name of Lockheed's mascot skunk?

 

[Steve Pace]

There was a Three Stooges movie entitled Beer Barrel Polecats in 1946 and the stooge Curly Howard (Curly) is the particular Polecat adopted by the Skunk Works. He had suffered a series of minor strokes prior to filming the movie. I frankly don't get the significance of the name Howard as the make believe 'copilot.'

 

[Steve Pace]

Another view - Not so good.

 

[Matej]

Not so good for the cover of the magazine, but unique for us because of the angle. Thanks!

 

[Steve Pace]

It's interesting that the main landing gear featured a two-wheeled bogie system. The Polecat must have been heavy.

 

[aim9xray]

Not necessarily. It may have been driven by sizing constraints of the wheel bay.

As an example, the Global Hawk went from dual wheel main landing gear on the RQ-4A to a single-wheel system on the larger and heavier RQ-4B. The small diameter dual wheels had to fit in the fuselage, while the larger diameter single wheel fits in a fairing below the the redesigned wing.

 

[Steve Pace]

I hadn't noticed that.

 

[Matej]

I am doing some work related to the Polecat and I noticed a lot of commonalities with the RQ-170, like similar shape of the engine exhaust and such. It is nothing unexpected because of the same time and the same manufacturer. However what captured my attention was the artists impression of the Polecat from its brochure, where are shown interesting nipples. But compared to the RQ-170, they are on the bottom side. Firstly I thought that it is related to the main landing gear, but the shape suggest the opposite - it should be some sort of equipment. What do you think?

 

[Firefly 2]

I am doing some work related to the Polecat and I noticed a lot of commonalities with the RQ-170, like similar shape of the engine exhaust and such. It is nothing unexpected because of the same time and the same manufacturer. However what captured my attention was the artists impression of the Polecat from its brochure, where are shown interesting nipples. But compared to the RQ-170, they are on the bottom side. Firstly I thought that it is related to the main landing gear, but the shape suggest the opposite - it should be some sort of equipment. What do you think?

Conjecture: some sort of sensor bays? SAR perhaps?
Just posting the first things coming to mind.

 

[Matej]

And now even the better part - the model, sold on the e-bay, has that nipples and they are covering the main landing gear wheels! But there is not any sign of them in the production prototype. What does it mean? The original design was so thin, that it wasn't able to absorb two wheeled gear? Was the original design so small (substantially smaller than what was really build), so it wasn't able to absorb them? And here comes to my mind the RQ-170 once again...

 

[aim9xray]

No, the fairings are there on the full scale aircraft. Look closely just to the left of the nose gear door at: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,501.msg75402.html#msg75402

 

[quellish]

No, the fairings are there on the full scale aircraft. Look closely just to the left of the nose gear door at: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,501.msg75402.html#msg75402

You can see them on the wind tunnel models as well. They were part of the design from early on.

 

[Matej]

Now I can see them too. What confused me is that they are not visible from the front and very bad visible from the side. Well, one mystery solved.

 

[InvisibleDefender]

patch on ebay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/UNIDENTIFIED-LOCKHEED-SKUNK-WORKS-PATCH-/330499712113?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf3516471

 

[quellish]

patch on ebay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/UNIDENTIFIED-LOCKHEED-SKUNK-WORKS-PATCH-/330499712113?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf3516471

Roughly:
"To maximum altitude"

and

"Rapid manufacturing" (more literally, 'speed up the building' )

 

[Stargazer]

The two skunks facing each other also seem to be making a Roman "2"... Any idea what that could mean?

 

[Matej]

I think that there is only one.

Edit: I just realized that the grey area, where the skunk is hiding its nose, represents the trailing edge of the Polecat.

 

[flateric]

Sold For: US $100.00

 

[Stargazer]

Oh, I see. It's only one creature, and obviously it's a polecat, not a skunk. As for the "II", it also looks like a torch with a flame above. Ah, well...

 

[quellish]

Oh, I see. It's only one creature, and obviously it's a polecat, not a skunk. As for the "II", it also looks like a torch with a flame above. Ah, well...

Funny thing is, I'm not sure those engines could work at the altitudes they were shooting for.

EDIT:
I stand corrected:
http://www.williams-int.com/information.html?pid=3

 

[InvisibleDefender]

Yup. I like how they incorporated the trailing edge of the aircraft into the patch. I'd like to add it to my collection, but $100 is pretty steep!

 

[Stealth_X]

Is there any 3way views of the aircraft out there? I wwould like to produce a kit of the p-175 in 1/48 scale.

 

[flateric]

Is there any 3way views of the aircraft out there? I wwould like to produce a kit of the p-175 in 1/48 scale.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,501.msg57196.html#msg57196

 

[flateric]

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Awards Meeting
Joint AIAA and ASME Dinner Meeting
Thursday, May 24, 2012
“Lockheed Martin Skunk Works – Polecat UAS Demonstrator”
Guest Speaker: Michael Swanson
In 2003, Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs “Skunk Works”
started development of a large-scale, high altitude unmanned aircraft system to
showcase innovative rapid system development methods, investigate high altitude
performance of a tailless aircraft configuration, and mature autonomous and
mission control technologies for the next generation of unmanned systems. The
project was internally funded and
given an aggressive schedule of 18
months to be ready for flight.
‘‘Polecat’’ was designed to be 9,000 lb gross takeoff weight including
1,000 lbs of payload. It was powered by two Williams International
FJ44-3E engines.
The first flight of ‘‘Polecat’’ was in 2005 at Nellis Test Range AFB. ‘‘Polecat’’ was unveiled at the 2006
Farnborough Air Show.
Mr. Swanson has over 20 years experience in Operations Analysis, Materials
Development, Structural Design, Configuration Design, Rapid-Prototyping, and
Flight Test and is currently Chief Engineer of the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier
Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced
Development Programs “Skunk Works”.
He began work with ADP as an Operations Research Analyst for classified
programs performing requirements analysis, system effectiveness studies, and
performance trades. Working in Advanced Design on the Joint Air-to-Surface
Standoff Missile (JASSM) program, he was responsible for the overall wing design utilizing innovative, low
cost composite manufacturing technologies. He has held design lead, chief engineer and project lead positions
on multiple classified efforts including the Polecat UAS Demonstrator. He was also the Program Manager of
the X-55A Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft program, which developed a manned flight demonstrator to
showcase the benefits of rapid development processes, advanced composite technologies and manufacturing
methods.
Mr. Swanson is also an active Private Pilot and has been involved in the design and construction of
experimental, amateur-built aircraft.

 

[flateric]

from SW video

 

[Matej]

This is rendering of possible operational Polecat.

 

[quellish]

This is rendering of possible operational Polecat.

I think this is the same platform they are trying to sell to the Navy.

 

[flateric]

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeronautics/skunkworks/onestepahead/skunk-works-approach.html

 

[Vladimir]

Another view - Not so good.

Thank You, Steve Pace !

 

[flateric]

...

 

[AeroFranz]

LOL...PR shot.
This is only 300% more diverse than the median engineering group picked at random ;D

 

[flateric]

We are looking at B/LM Mini-M LRS-B literally.

 

[TomcatViP]

Yes striking. The inlets also are staggeringly shallow.

 

[flateric]

“Throughout the Skunk Works history, there’s been this idea that we’re out there pushing boundaries and taking risks. We’re going to have setbacks and issues, but as long as we’re moving forward, it’s okay.”
- Mike Swanson, Skunk Works chief engineer

https://lockheedmartin.com/insideskunkworks?linkId=100000002654766

 

[flateric]

WSFSCD
https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/building-trust-in-bonded-primary-structures

 

[jsport]

This is from Flight International in August last year:

Skunk Works abandoned plans to fly a morphing-wing UAV after two crashes during take-off attempts. DARPA says the crashes were caused by problems with the autonomous vehicle's flight control software. In Lockheed's morphing design the wing folds upwards and inwards, reducing area and increasing sweep as the inner section folds flat against the fuselage side. Both Lockheed and NextGen Aeronatics have been funded to build and fly more-powerful morphing-wing UAVs for the next phase of the DARPA programme.

This is the Lockheed "Yellow Bird" morphing UAV, before it tried to fly, with the morphing wing folded.

Below it is NextGen's competing MFX-1 morphing UAV, which did fly, and change its wing shape in flight.

Morphing wings significantly change the wings geometry and therefore can be termed varible geometry. When the intent and funding are there they we be back if they have not already went black.

[PDF] Design, Development, and Analysis of a Morphing Aircraft Model for Wind Tunnel Experimentation | Semantic Scholar

Morphing aircraft combine both radical and subtle wing shape changes to improve vehicle performance relative to a rigid airframe. An aircraft wind tunnel model with considerable wing-shape freedom can serve as a tool in learning to model, control, and fully exploit the potential of such...

www.semanticscholar.org

 

[flateric]

LMSW via Chris Pocock