Any Ideas for a 21st Century Stealth Troop Glider?

[ChuckAnderson]

Mission Type:
Israel wants to put troops and their equipment (near Isfahan, Iran for example) to try to take out a nuclear weapons production facility, guarded by troops of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
What might such an aircraft look like?

Chuck

 

[Bill Walker]

A whole bunch of parafoils, launched HAHO from a stand off stealth transport. Now, what would that transport look like?

 

[Gridlock]

Blurry

 

[chuck4]

A whole bunch of parafoils, launched HAHO from a stand off stealth transport. Now, what would that transport look like?

It would look like hot air. ;D

 

[cluttonfred]

I don't know that anyone has done an assault glider since the immediate post-WWII years, but for such a high-value mission as this one, it would have to be stealthy. I can easily imagine a novel in which a stealthy assault glider capable of being towed behind a regularly-scheduled airline flight is used on such a mission because of the ability to silently deliver an entire assault team to the target simultaneously. But as far as I know, that's just fiction.

 

[chuck4]

I don't know that anyone has done an assault glider since the immediate post-WWII years, but for such a high-value mission as this one, it would have to be stealthy. I can easily imagine a novel in which a stealthy assault glider capable of being towed behind a regularly-scheduled airline flight is used on such a mission because of the ability to silently deliver an entire assault team to the target simultaneously. But as far as I know, that's just fiction.

That would give Iran some pretty convincing justification to shoot down regularly scheduled airline flights later.

 

[kcran567]

I don't know that anyone has done an assault glider since the immediate post-WWII years, but for such a high-value mission as this one, it would have to be stealthy. I can easily imagine a novel in which a stealthy assault glider capable of being towed behind a regularly-scheduled airline flight is used on such a mission because of the ability to silently deliver an entire assault team to the target simultaneously. But as far as I know, that's just fiction.

http://preview.turbosquid.com/Preview/2010/12/03__02_54_00/Blimp-2.jpg576b9104-86cb-4705-8079-83d7eaf3c1b2Larger.jpg


http://preview.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2009_07_15__07_55_44/Blimp-1.jpgf958cd6b-899a-470e-b40b-3b8e6644c137Larger.jpg


http://preview.turbosquid.com/Preview/2010/12/03__02_54_00/Blimp-3.jpg5345cbf8-a898-46ba-9803-4f50488bd229Larger.jpg


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MpnA9si4GMs/S-wmIdVaPpI/AAAAAAAAGwo/nlqbcwUV3Ec/s1600/blimp1-l.jpg


http://www.markmccandlish.com/Portals/0/StealthBlimp.jpg


http://www.sushi-x.com/gallery/nonseq/triangle/triangle1.jpg


http://www.millenniumairship.com/desert.jpg


LTAV's, stealth blimp military airship hybrid vehicles might be the future rather than a stealth glider. The blimp offers more flexibility in operation. The bonuses are you can always say it was an "unidentified object" while frightening the local population about the possibility of invading ufo's as a cover story. These things can load a lot of personnel and equipment. And you wouldn't need to sacrifice any civilian airliners as tow planes.

 

[Firebee]

My immediate thought is something like a modern, stealth-shaped take on the DINIFIA IA 38. A Reimar Horten design after he'd move to Argentina.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Speaking of Parafoils: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/elbit-to-supply-flying-elephant-cargo-uas-356710/

 

[Grey Havoc]

You may find this 1991 thesis of interest: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a240087.pdf

 

[Tony Williams]

Funny this should come up, it was recently discussed within a thread on my forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=autogun&nav=messages&prettyurl=%2Fautogun%2Fmessages&gid=16941578

This was my take on it (post No.16):

Given all of the work which has been done on advanced materials (carbon fibre and fabrics), ultra-light aircraft with fabric wings, and parachute/parafoil designs, there would be scope to design a much lighter and more efficient glider with the same capacity as the squad-carrying WW2 Waco (Hadrian), with some important changes.

First, I would not have it towed but instead designed with folding wings for internal carriage. At a rough guesstimate, one would fit into a C-130, four into a C-17 (that's based on Waco dimensions - it might be possible to reduce them considerably). The gliders would be launched off the rear ramp at a suitable distance from the target. Pilots would not be needed - there would be an autopilot given GPS coordinates of the precise landing point (this is already done with some steerable military cargo parachutes). An additional braking/landing parachute could be deployed for an almost vertical landing.

The end result could be launched a long way from the carrying aircraft, would have negligible radar, thermal or acoustic signatures, and would land a complete squad with all their equipment and supplies precisely on target, all together and immediately ready to deploy.