US UAV and UCAV Technology

bring_it_on said:
Is there any statement, from anyone in the USAF, that would lead one to believe that NGAD demonstrator was not focusing on product performance? One would think that any demonstrator would be focused at retiring major areas of risk associated with the overall vision. Sure, a new design and production process may be one such thing, but it likely wouldn't be the only thing they would have liked to focus on.
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Nothing confirmed, but there was a lot of speculation that a lot of the records that were supposedly broken producing the demonstrator (whatever form it took) were related to production and not performance. It would be in keeping with the digital century series mantra the program is pushing. But no, nothing is known in open source.
 
TomcatViP said:
@Josh_TN :
Wait wait.
There is no lifting body effect
There is a lower keel
The Wing sweep angle is acute.

This design smells speed all over it (low alpha cruise, fairly small governs, axis symmetrical body (or somewhat), high sweep). This is not our usual subsonic suspect.
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I assume the wings were folded for carriage. Isn't the engine class this thing uses no where near what would be required to be super sonic?
 
Engines are a couple of TDI's small turbojets, either J85s (200 lbf) or J7 (70lbf). That's not a lot of thrust.
The unusual number of engines may be simply due to the fact that there are so few small turbojets that in order to get your right amount of thrust you need more than one. For example, i don't think there is much available between 200 and 600 lbf, so if you need 400 lbf, voila, you use two J85s.
Also, as pointed out, i don't see any attempt at area ruling. I think this is firmly subsonic.
 
AeroFranz said:
Also, as pointed out, i don't see any attempt at area ruling. I think this is firmly subsonic.
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Pretty low fineness ratio unless there's a rocket in its ass. Although the folding lugs are nice.

Difficult to see what the point of this is apart from some pretty niche missions
 
Regarding speed racer, I am wondering if that is not a very low nap of the earth high speed vehicle that could be released at very low alt.
See the ventral keel, the high wing loading wing, the ejected part after launch to garentee the optimal placement and perfect calibration of governs as adding stability by aft high drag index, the attention to horizontal aspect stealth (side fuselage geometry)...
 
www.businesswire.com

LiquidPiston Wins Air Force Contract To Overcome Shortcomings Of Batteries in eVTOL and UAS Propulsion

LiquidPiston's X-Engine is being evaluated as an enabling technology to power the UAS or orb through a hybrid-electric propulsion system.
www.businesswire.com

www.airrecognition.com

LiquidPiston to develop its X-Engine as a hybrid-electric propulsion p

LiquidPiston, Inc., developer of advanced rotary internal combustion engines for diesel and jet fuels, announced it received a Small Business Innovation Re
www.airrecognition.com www.airrecognition.com
 
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An illustrative concept of a future unmanned aircraft that might field capabilities of the type that the USAF is now seeking for its Next-Generation Multirole Unmanned Aircraft System Family of Systems requirement. (Lockheed Martin)
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USAF seeks Next Gen Multirole UAS capabilities

The US Air Force (USAF) has issued a request for information (RFI) for its Next-Generation Multirole Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Family of Systems (FoS) requirement.
www.janes.com www.janes.com
 
Working as part of a layered approach to counter-drone defense, MORFIUS units will be launched at hostile drones, or drone swarms, and then disable them in close proximity, with potentially a gigawatt of microwave power — or, as Lockheed put it, a million times the power of a standard 1,000-watt microwave oven.
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breakingdefense.com

Amphib Boxer soon to be sidelined again for 18 months of maintenance - Breaking Defense

A new government contracting notice says the ship will undergo maintenance from April 2025 through October 2026.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
 
Disclosed in a 26 March US Department of Defense (DoD) contract modification for USD98.9 million to increase the scope of low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 5, the reintroduction of one aircraft for the US Navy (USN) effectively removes the prospect of Northrop Grumman having to pause production across Lots 6 and 7 for two years until FY 2023. This had been touted due to budgetary constraints.

“[Northrop Grumman is] pleased to announce Congress reintroduced a production aircraft back in to the FY 2021 budget as part of LRIP Lot 5, which will prevent a production pause,” a company spokesperson said.
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Northrop Grumman avoids Triton production pause

Northrop Grumman has avoided an anticipated gap in production of its MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), with the...
www.janes.com www.janes.com
 
XQ-58A Valkyrie drone successfully launched an even smaller unmanned aircraft from inside its internal weapons bay on March 26, the U.S. Air Force announced Monday.
www.defensenews.com

Valkyrie drone launches even smaller drone from inside payload bay

In its sixth flight test, the Valkyrie released a payload while in flight for the first time.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

photo: Wright-Patterson AirBase
 

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Some images from 40th Flight Test Squadron with what looks like the MAKO that was modified to carry the Skyborg autonomous software for Autonomous Attritable Aircraft Experiment. It was spotted with some modifications on top of the intake. Seems like the intake was modified to allow for something right on top of it.

www.dvidshub.net

Autonomous Aircraft Experiment

Maj. Nathan McCaskey, an F-16 Test Pilot with the 96th Test Wing , observes an autonomous UTAP-22 aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico, May 5, 2021. The pilotless aircraft was modified to operate under its own computerized control as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Autonomous Attritable...
www.dvidshub.net www.dvidshub.net


 

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NASA said:
It was spotted with some modifications on top of the intake. Seems like the intake was modified to allow for something right on top of it.
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Looks like they moved the IRST there that was previously on top
 

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