Organic cruise missiles

[Vahe Demirjian]

The cruise missiles fired by MetalGreymon as part of his Giga Blaster (aka Giga Destroyer) technique are shaped like a fish with traces of organic materials. Has there been any concept for a cruise missile designed using organic materials?

 

[Antonio]

The cruise missiles fired by MetalGreymon as part of his Giga Blaster (aka Giga Destroyer) technique are shaped like a fish with traces of organic materials. Has there been any concept for a cruise missile designed using organic materials?

OMG

 

[Orionblamblam]

The cruise missiles fired by MetalGreymon as part of his Giga Blaster (aka Giga Destroyer) technique...

Ummmm... Was that some poorly funded DARPA program? Surely they could have afforded less silly-sounding names...

Has there been any concept for a cruise missile designed using organic materials?

Oh, sure. Most cruise missiles use carbon fiber (both the carbon fiber itself and the resin boding it together are, of course, carbon based and thus organic compounds) and/or fiberglass (which uses hydrocarbon-based epoxies). And of course, I think every airbreathing cruise missile uses organic fuels such as jet fuel, kerosene, etc/

 

[Kryptid]

Ummmm... Was that some poorly funded DARPA program? Surely they could have afforded less silly-sounding names...

Seems that it's a character from the Digimon cartoon.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Oh, well, of course it is.

:

 

[flanker]

Best thread of the year so far?

 

[Bill Walker]

The Sperry cruise missile from c.1916 (a.k.a. The Aerial Torpedo) used lots of wood. Trees are organic.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Has there been any project for an organic cruise missile whose airframe is made from the skin of a fish?

 

[Orionblamblam]

The Sperry cruise missile from c.1916 (a.k.a. The Aerial Torpedo) used lots of wood. Trees are organic.

And was skinned in either cotton or silk, which are both of course organic. But was it free range silk?

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Vahe Demirjian will not be contributing for now until he demonstrates the ability to post sensible questions.

 

[Orionblamblam]

demonstrates the ability to not post sensible questions.

Wait... what?



Sensible questions are bad?

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Typo

 

[Orionblamblam]

Best thread of the year so far?

Not until people start arguing about My Little Pony vs. Adventure Time as being the best allegory for the decline of the American aerospace industry and the rise of the unfunded mandate welfare state. If someone can work in a reference to why the F-35 is awesome/terrible based on plotlines from The Powerpuff Girls, we'll really be onto something.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Once past the inexplicable source of the original question, the use of low-tech "non strategic" materials in modern aerospace systems seems like a question worthy of some discussion. A few things spring to mind:
1) Some Chinese recoverable satellites used wood heat shields... successfully.
2) Trident SLBMs use an "aerospike" that projects from the nose to create a shockwave ahead of the necessarily stubby nosecone (a pointed nosecone would make the missile too long to fit in the sub). The aerospike has a slab of spruce that works as a heat shield.
3) The interior of the liquid hydrogen tank on the Delta Clipper was lined with balsa.
4) I have dim recollections of wooden spacers being used to separate cryogenic tanks and/or heat shields from surrounding structures
5) In my rocket designing days, I proposed using consumable wood bits on a particular program, but plastic would up working better

Nothing else immediately springs to mind. However, I always thought it would be classy if a modern jet fighter - F-22, f-35, whatever - replaced the flat metal instrument panel with a more curved panel, with the instruments set into finely finished oak or walnut instead of painted aluminum.

 

[GTX]

I always thought it would be classy if a modern jet fighter - F-22, f-35, whatever - replaced the flat metal instrument panel with a more curved panel, with the instruments set into finely finished oak or walnut instead of painted aluminum.

I like your style. ;D

 

[Arjen]

Re: organic cruise missiles

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I always thought it would be classy if a modern jet fighter - F-22, f-35, whatever - replaced the flat metal instrument panel with a more curved panel, with the instruments set into finely finished oak or walnut instead of painted aluminum.

I like your style. ;D

Great idea! That would be how you know you bought the premium American model. J-20 cockpit is probably plastic

 

[Orionblamblam]

Great idea! That would be how you know you bought the premium American model.

That and the Rich Corinthian Leather.

Come on, folks, admit it. Forget about rubbish like your jet fighter converting into a humanoid robot with a club, like a 50-foot-tall robotic Ron Jeremy... what you *really* want to see is class. Is there any good reasons - apart, I suppose, from weight concerns - why high-end aircraft shouldn't be appointed like high-end aircraft? It almost certainly wouldn't add to actual functionality, but there's PR value.

Note: I mean *real* class, like Rolls Royce or Gulfstream... not cheesy crap like spinners on the wheels, a powerful sound system and purple lights on the underside, with cheaply plated gold and chrome. You want something that an American or British pilot would be pround to fly in, not something from Pimp My Ride or the streets of Arabia or Dubai. Bleah.

 

[GTX]

And sell it as a self defence mechanism..."Come on...how could you shoot down something that looks this good!?" ;D

 

[Bill Walker]

It could also be useful as a recruiting tool. "Sure, you can fly that old Navy jet, but WE have reclining vibrating ejection seats."

 

[CJGibson]

Project Orcon?

...and as an aside, peregrine falcons have shock cones in their nostrils to help them breath in high-speed dives.

Chris

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

Hahaha! I just had the best laugh this week ;D

 

[AeroFranz]

Note: I mean *real* class, like Rolls Royce or Gulfstream... not cheesy crap like spinners on the wheels, a powerful sound system and purple lights on the underside, with cheaply plated gold and chrome. You want something that an American or British pilot would be pround to fly in, not something from Pimp My Ride or the streets of Arabia or Dubai. Bleah.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the purple lights and spinners...after all both the Saudis and the UAE are historic customers of US aircraft!

 

[martinbayer]

Once past the inexplicable source of the original question, the use of low-tech "non strategic" materials in modern aerospace systems seems like a question worthy of some discussion. A few things spring to mind:
1) Some Chinese recoverable satellites used wood heat shields... successfully.
2) Trident SLBMs use an "aerospike" that projects from the nose to create a shockwave ahead of the necessarily stubby nosecone (a pointed nosecone would make the missile too long to fit in the sub). The aerospike has a slab of spruce that works as a heat shield.
3) The interior of the liquid hydrogen tank on the Delta Clipper was lined with balsa.
4) I have dim recollections of wooden spacers being used to separate cryogenic tanks and/or heat shields from surrounding structures
5) In my rocket designing days, I proposed using consumable wood bits on a particular program, but plastic would up working better

Nothing else immediately springs to mind.

Ranger 3 used an 'impact limiter' made of balsa: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Ranger_3.html

Martin

 

[dannydale]

The cruise missiles fired by MetalGreymon as part of his Giga Blaster (aka Giga Destroyer) technique are shaped like a fish with traces of organic materials. Has there been any concept for a cruise missile designed using organic materials?

Closest I can come up with, read the bit about the 'counter-battery darts'. Following attachment is modern line warship design (Earthforce Omega-class destroyer, ca. 2297 CE) fitted with this system.

B)