US UAV and UCAV Technology

Could be a French Harfang, but the tail is interesting. Maybe a company (EADS) testbed example?

EDIT: Maybe not. The wing layout doesn't really gel with that theory, unless EADS used unsold Harfang components for some sort of once off testbed/ demonstrator.
 
SOC said:
What's this? Looks sorta like a Heron but the back end is all wrong for starters. More photos here:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?197620-Is-it-a-UAV-or-a-piloted-aircraft-(Yes-I-ve-read-the-information-request-sticky)

Funny how the tail unit seems to be asymmetric...
 
I think it might be an Aerovironment design. Alternatively it could still be a Harfang derivative. By the way, is it just me or does it look like that drone might be equipped with a heavy fuel engine?.
 
SOC said:
What's this? Looks sorta like a Heron but the back end is all wrong for starters. More photos here:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?197620-Is-it-a-UAV-or-a-piloted-aircraft-(Yes-I-ve-read-the-information-request-sticky)

There is a Lockheed Martin design on a poster that is very similar to this IIRC. I'll remember where I saw it soon I hope :(

http://airdroids.blogspot.com/2010/08/lockheed-unveils-maple-mple-uav.html

Sorry it was the twin boom that made me think of MAPLE.
 
Stargazer2006 said:
SOC said:
What's this? Looks sorta like a Heron but the back end is all wrong for starters. More photos here:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?197620-Is-it-a-UAV-or-a-piloted-aircraft-(Yes-I-ve-read-the-information-request-sticky)

Funny how the tail unit seems to be asymmetric...
Looks more like twin boom joined at the top tips to form the horizontal stabilizers swept back ten degrees or so. It looks crooked because the sweep angle reverses as it crosses the centerline.
 
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/05/spotted-mystery-aircraft-near.html

Trimble has it.
 
Matej said:
Triton said:
Video of Lockheed Martin Sure Strike 2 UCAV concept.

In other words Lockheed Cormorant.

I don't think so. While they share some design elements, the Sure Strike 2 appears to be a large, high altitude bomb truck with limited onboard sensors, while Cormorant was a smaller low to medium level sub-launched platform intended for roles like recon, strike, BDA, defense suppression, etc.
 
I disagree with that. Yes, in the video the aircrafts are shown in relatively high altitude, but to use that kind of the configuration for the high altitude bomb truck is the engineering suicide (stealth, internal arrangement, lift in high altitude, fuel to weight ratio, take off and landing of such a design on the conventional runway...). And Lockheed Martin didn't invest billions of dollars to the Cormorant development, so there is not any need for the effort to "recycle" the concept in another weapon system. The type of the mission in the video is of course different, but I am sure, that the vehicle itself is the Cormorant.
 
Matej said:
I disagree with that. Yes, in the video the aircrafts are shown in relatively high altitude, but to use that kind of the configuration for the high altitude bomb truck is the engineering suicide (stealth, internal arrangement, lift in high altitude, fuel to weight ratio, take off and landing of such a design on the conventional runway...). And Lockheed Martin didn't invest billions of dollars to the Cormorant development, so there is not any need for the effort to "recycle" the concept in another weapon system. The type of the mission in the video is of course different, but I am sure, that the vehicle itself is the Cormorant.

Hmmm. Leaving aside for the moment the question of wether SS2 was directly derived from Cormorant, I was wondering wether it was intended for air launch, although that still leaves the question of how it or where it was to land, unless it was intended to be retrieved in mid-air by a carrier aircraft, that is. The Cormorant was intended for ditching and recovery by it's parent sub, but I doubt that was also to be the case for the SS2, although it is possible it was intended for launch from a CVN or other surface vessel, and then post mission ditching and recovery by same or other friendly vessel. That would make sense.
 
The first image seems to be from a Navy, or Navy related presentation?
 
Is someone splitting and merging? I am almost sure that I responded to that. It is a morphing wing study from NG. However I dont think, that the last generic triangular platform (that was really built in scaled down form) is related with the two other.
 

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Matej said:
I dont think, that the last generic triangular platform (that was really built in scaled down form) is related with the two other.

Agreed. Third aircraft is most likely an early depiction of the X-47A.
 
Stargazer2006 said:
Just came across an official PowerPoint presentation which presents that same Lockheed UAV in various configurations:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6843.msg91984.html#msg91984
 
Nice video indeed!

Here is a couple of captures that seemed worthwhile: the first one presents all of Northrop Grumman's current unmanned systems in one screen; the second one presents the Global Hawk range.
 

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from 2008 Northrop Grumman presentation
Sensorcraft (or NGB?), DARPA/NG OFW Demonstrator, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN
 

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some new LM ADP UCAV shape noticed along Polecat configuration at Skink Works chief Al Romig presentation on January, 11


downloaded presentation video (hate streaming vids) http://www.zshare.net/video/986312966879e436/
 

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Remember this? http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1970.msg121777.html#msg121777

And now...
 

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some weird stuff at lower left corner from October 2011 AFRL presentation
 

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The others around it look as if they could be bug-sized or shaped systems as well; noting the twin bulbous 'eyes' on each, the protuding legs, etc - there has been some interesting and somewhat successful work on 'cyborg' beetles that can be remotely controlled, although they don't appear anything like that.
 
A small company called Theiss Aviation has developed several so-called NIRVs (Nature Inspired Reconnaissance Vehicles), which are basically UAVs or MAVs shaped like birds.

The Seagull :

TAI%20Seagull%2031.JPG


Seagull%20Hold.JPG



The Hawk :

Hawk%20Hold.JPG



The Vulture :

Vulture%2018.JPG


Vulture%20Fly.jpg


Vulture%20Hold.jpg



The Spy Pigeon:

AOL%201.JPG



Source: http://www.theissaviation.com/
 
Hmmmm.

Robo-Copter Will Keep Tabs on Navy’s Biofuel Plants


The Navy is hoping to one day run a huge chunk of its fleet on biofuels. So the Navy’s advanced researchers — and their partners at the U.S. Department of Agriculture — are turning to a tiny robotic helicopter to help them figure out which crop they might be able to convert into their fuel of the future.

The experiment is taking place over 35,000 acres of Maui soil, on the fields of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, the state’s largest commercial sugar plantation. That’s the site of a $10 million, five-year gamble to test which of plantation’s crops might work as grow-your-jetfuel. The drone helicopter will track every temperature fluctuation and sprouting bud emerging into the Hawaiian sun......


.....Nevertheless, the Office of Naval Research and the Agriculture Department are wondering whether Maui’s mix of plants, tropical sun, and nutrient-rich soil can produce a bumper crop of clean, renewable energy. Enter the Leptron corporation’s tiny drone helicopter, the Avenger. It’s about to be the Navy’s robotic horticulturist in Hawaii.

The Department of Agriculture recently bought an Avenger — not to be confused with the next-generation Predator drone — so its thermal imaging cameras can gather “small plot specific data,” particularly about crop temperature. The department wants a drone instead of a manned helicopter so it can keep the Avenger hovering over the patch of farmland and taking pictures longer than a human being could handle. The idea is that the Avenger’s persistent stare will alert researchers to any problems with the crops — including jatropha, sweet sorghum, and sugar cane — before the entire experiment is jeopardized. The team figures that Hawaii is an ideal venue for the experiement: it’s a high-fertility environment that’s already home to the Pacific Fleet. “A perfect storm of opportunity,” is how the Navy’s top energy official described Hawaii in 2010......


.....But the first lookout for whether grow-your-own fuel is even viable will be the diminutive, svelte Avenger, whose main rotor is merely six feet in diameter. In addition to optional remote-control or programmable autonomous flight options, it comes with a pair of video goggles, which Leptron calls a “Personal Media Viewer,” to give a person below a drone’s eye view. Watching the grass grow was never this captivating.
 
Sorry for digging up old stuff, but i only just now saw Flateric's posted video "Engineering Design takes flight" one page back.
First off, great video. The other thing, at 2:24, is it me or does the lower framed picture show a dogfight between a MiG-29 and a manned sixth-gen fighter with inverted Vee-tails? While i have seen every single one of the other concepts shown in the video, i don't recall ever seeing that particular one anywhere else...
 

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