US UAV and UCAV Technology

Serpentine intake + IRST relocation (the only explanation that would make sense):

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www.thedrive.com

Kratos Mako Loyal Wingman Drone Emerges With Major Modifications For Skyborg Trials

Flying autonomously alongside an F-16, the drone now has a large serpentine air intake and what appears to be an infrared search and track sensor.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
Would have thought the FoV would kinda suck in that configuration compared to a forward or top mounted sensor.
 
puzzling...it's not like they're getting much better fan face blockage with the modified inlet. If i were to guess, this was a 'quick-and-dirty' mod. Maybe modifying non-structural parts (inlet) was the most expeditious way of achieving their goals (as ugly as it looks!)
 
Yes. Probably a Quick mod to evaluate the benefits of reducing RCS (aside of the obvious Serpentine, the IRST is also shielded that way).
Next, if that proves to have any operational utility, they would go back to the drawing board and send a nice updated bill to the USAF.
That's the best way to do it. No matter what you think of Kratos, cost efficient they are.
 
The "serpentine" intake comment just looks made up by the drive because it's pretty obviously not serpentine.

Much more likely it's just the easiest way of making the intake still work when you mount and IRST right in front of it's original position. E.g. extending it forwards probably easier than bifurcated either side.

This bottom IRST location vs top mounted - depends what altitude you're flying at. The earth isn't flat so co-altitude is look-down, especially when you include the aircraft angle of attack as well.
 
Based on the limited information that can be gathered from these images, the rear of the drone appears more or less unchanged.
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Did they not notice that the vertical stabilizer is completely different as well? :rolleyes:
 
just realized that an additional reason for the odd location of the IRST may have to do with how the vehicle is recovered. Remind me, but it is lowered by parachute on its belly, right (possibly with airbags)? In that case you don't want the relatively expensive sensor to risk impacting the ground.
 
Josh_TN said:
Would have thought the FoV would kinda suck in that configuration compared to a forward or top mounted sensor.
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Only upwards and not that much. Atmospheric targets at not too close ranges will still be within FoV.
 
AeroFranz said:
just realized that an additional reason for the odd location of the IRST may have to do with how the vehicle is recovered. Remind me, but it is lowered by parachute on its belly, right (possibly with airbags)? In that case you don't want the relatively expensive sensor to risk impacting the ground.
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Sudden Phoenix flash-backs.....
 
If I had to guess, the increase in vertical fin area was required by the additional lateral area ahead of the cg due to the weird IRST installation, to restore lateral stability.
 
This is pretty damn cool. https://naukatehnika.com/lyogkij-avtomobil-vmesto-xq-58a-valkyrie.html

The basic version of the ALTUIS-600 is designed for reconnaissance - a 12-kilogram UAV can carry a survey station, and a radar reconnaissance module. The payload can weigh up to 3.1 kg, which also allows the installation of a combat unit to turn the UAV into a barrage munition, and a kinetic interceptor to fight enemy UAVs. At the same time, the ALTIUS-600 can stay in the air for more than 4 hours, and the maximum range is 440 km. The miniature UAV was combined with a small DAGOR vehicle, which can be transported in the cargo hold of the CH-47 Chinook, and on the external suspension UH-60 Black Hawk. The machine received a turbodiesel JP8, with which DAGOR develops a maximum speed of 110 km/h, and the power reserve is 805 km. This allows you to get to the launch site as quickly as possible, and hit the target, located hundreds of kilometers, or conduct effective reconnaissance.
 
www.defensenews.com

Small drone biz Vanilla Unmanned has big plans for the US Navy

Vanilla Unmanned, a small business that was featured in an April naval drill, promises “world-record endurance, unmatched payload, and then a disruptive cost profile" in its Group 3 UAV that it hopes will change how the Navy thinks about unmanned aircraft.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
 
WASHINGTON — To prepare for unmanned aircraft system threats they may see on the battlefield, Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division participated in the Army’s first Counter-Small UAS home-station training session at Fort Carson, Colorado, from April 19-May 7 in advance of an upcoming deployment to the U.S. Central Command region.

Soldiers simulated using the Mobile-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integrated Defeat System, or M-LIDS, which is a system of sensors and shooters mounted on a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

The Army will also deploy five-person, C-sUAS mobile training teams that will remain stationed in the CENTCOM area of responsibility to train other deployed units.

www.army.mil

4th ID Soldiers first to receive counter UAS threat training at home

WASHINGTON -- To prepare for unmanned aircraft system threats they may see on the battlefield, Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division participated in t...
www.army.mil www.army.mil
 
Early next year, the U.S. military’s Space Development Agency will test whether low-earth orbit satellites can communicate with an MQ-9 Reaper drone via optical links, or lasers.

“In just a few short days, we'll be launching several satellites. Two of those are [MQ-9 maker] General Atomics satellites to be able to do the laser conductivity in space,” Derek Tournear, the head of the Space Development Agency

www.defenseone.com

US Will Try Using Lasers to Send Data From Space to Drones

In the first experiment of its kind, military researchers will attempt to link drones to satellites via light.
www.defenseone.com www.defenseone.com
 
Grey Havoc said:
www.defensenews.com

Small drone biz Vanilla Unmanned has big plans for the US Navy

Vanilla Unmanned, a small business that was featured in an April naval drill, promises “world-record endurance, unmatched payload, and then a disruptive cost profile" in its Group 3 UAV that it hopes will change how the Navy thinks about unmanned aircraft.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
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10 days on <700kg airframe?

Hiding without contesting the air is deader than dead at this point. Traditional concepts of dispersion are no longer valid.
 
Cheap GPS munitions are going to make warfare very one sided for the side that wins the ISR battle, which is almost certainly going to involve air superiority. The ERCA howitzer (really a gun) is going to spit GPS guided shells in the $10-20,000 price range out to forty miles at a rate of eight rounds per minute once the auto loader is added. At that point a entire battalion of armored vehicles can get killed by a single battery in a one minute fire mission if you have sufficiently accurate target information.
 
www.businesswire.com

USAF Awards Wave Engine Corp. $1 Million to Advance the Versatile Air-Launched Platform (VALP)

Wave Engine Corp was awarded $1M by the US Air Force to build and demonstrate its Versatile Air-Launched Platform (VALP) for aviation of the future
www.businesswire.com
www.aero-mag.com

US Air Force awards pressure wave engine propulsion contract

North American Wave Engine Corporation has won a $1 million US Air Force contract to build and demonstrate the Versatile Air-Launched Platform (VALP).
www.aero-mag.com www.aero-mag.com
www.thedrive.com

Air Force Finds New Need For Low-Cost Engine Tech Used On Nazi Buzz Bombs

A startup is reviving the powerplant used in the V-1 flying bomb for use in an air-launched decoy, and possibly more.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
Lockheed Martin has confirmed a secret customer has ordered the Speed Racer flight vehicle that the Skunk Works unveiled a year ago as a technology demonstrator. A poster on a wall of a Skunk Works facility shed new light on the secretive vehicle’s intended role by spelling out each letter in the...
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Lockheed Confirms New Details Of Speed Racer’s Role And Future | Aviation Week Network

Lockheed Martin has confirmed a secret customer has ordered the Speed Racer flight vehicle that the Skunk Works unveiled a year ago as a technology demonstrator.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com
 
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Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. [...] announced today that its Air Wolf Tactical Drone System completed a 100 percent successful flight at the recently approved Burns Flat, Oklahoma Range Facility. The Kratos Air Wolf Mission, which was the inaugural flight at the Burns Flat Range location, included multiple new payloads carried by the Air Wolf Drone, including a proprietary Kratos artificial intelligence/autonomy system, which has been developed by Kratos specifically for high performance, jet drone aircraft.
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www.globenewswire.com

Kratos Air Wolf Tactical Drone System Completes Successful Flight at Burns Flat, Oklahoma Range Facility

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider...
www.globenewswire.com www.globenewswire.com
 
Grey Havoc said:
From earlier this month, not sure why I didn't post it at the time:
www.defensenews.com

US Army endorses tactical drone contest to replace Shadow

The Army is embarking on a competitive prototyping effort to replace its Shadow unmanned aircraft with an advanced, runway-independent capability.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
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Actually something the Army did right. They put the four vehicles in the hands of the soldiers who would operate them. The Army (and the vendors) got one of the best test possible. In these days of massed "foot shooting", this is actually some good news.
 
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