Saturday, July 6, 2013

More Details On The U.S. Navy's New Killer Drone



We Now Know EXACTLY How Much Ass the Navy’s New Killer Drone Will Kick -- War Is Boring

1,000 pounds over 2,000 miles, is how much.

The U.S. Navy is working on a radar-evading, armed, jet-propelled, highly autonomous drone warplane able to take off of and land on the pitching deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as early as 2018.

Known by the ungainly moniker UCLASS — that stands for “Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike — the new drone will be the first pilotless warplane with the same bombing abilities as today’s manned jet fighters.

It’ll be stealthy. It’ll carry lots of sensors and ordnance over long distance. It’ll be expensive. That much we knew. What we didn’t know until late last week was just how much stuff it will carry, how far and against what level of enemy defenses. We also had no idea how much the Navy expected to pay for the drone.

Read more
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Update: What The X-47B Reveals About The Future Of Autonomous Flight -- Popular Science

My Comment: It is sill in the development and testing phase, but it is clear that the U.S> Navy wants to have these drones on their ships as soon as possible.

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