UAV / UCAV - Drohnen

[Skywalker]

USAF’s New ‘Black’ Bird
Fast, Stealthy, Long-Endurance UAV Would Fill Satellite Gap


By VAGO MURADIAN
02 August 2004 14:14


In what could be the largest top-secret aircraft program since the B-2 bomber, the U.S. Air Force is racing to develop a stealthy, supersonic, long-range unmanned reconnaissance plane that would give commanders better intelligence on the ever-shifting targets in the war on terrorism and elsewhere.

And allow them to strike those targets.

The Air Force wants to develop an unmanned airplane that combines attributes designers historically have said were difficult, if not impossible, to blend: high speed, high stealth, high altitude and, most important, high persistence — the ability to remain over a given spot for a day or more. The new aircraft would fill a looming gap caused by delays in developing an ambitious new generation of spy satellites.

The ultimate aim, senior officials said, is to combine characteristics of stealth, speed, altitude and endurance not seen since the legendary SR-71 Blackbird spyplane built by Lockheed Martin was retired from active duty in the late 1990s because of costs

Quelle: <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=3114321">www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=3114321</a><!-- w -->