DARPA’s Vulture: What Goes Up, Needn’t Come Down
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Aurora Flight Sciences has received a Phase 1 contract for engineers to begin developing a radical new aircraft, under a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program known as “Vulture.”
DARPA’s goals for Vulture are not trivial: 5 years on station with a 450kg/ 1,000lb payload, 5kW of onboard power, and sufficient loiter speed to stay on station for 99% of the time against winds encountered at 60,000-90,000 feet. The system could act as a satellite substitute for communications relay or reconnaissance, as long as the payload fit within the weight limit. Vulture would be more vulnerable to anti-aircraft missiles than a satellite, and could be targeted by fighter jets as well given the right launch profile; on the other hand, that closeness would improve sensor resolution and communications capability.
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Sunday 20 April, 2008 07:28 AM |
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