Here's the Boeing X-45. God, that was a hot day. Anyway this pilotless plane did some scary stuff a couple of years ago.
Two X-45A unmanned aircraft flew a simulated combat mission during their 50th flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The two X-45As began the test by departing from Edwards and climbing to altitudes of 24,500 and 25,500 ft respectively. Separated by approximately 25 miles and operating at Mach .65 (225 knots), the jets began their combat air patrol (CAP) mission to provide airborne alert over the exercise area. Tasked with suppression of enemy air defenses, the two vehicles were given two simulated pop-up ground threats to eliminate.
Once alerted to the first threat, the X-45As autonomously determined which vehicle held the optimum position, weapons and fuel load to properly attack the target. After making that decision, one of the X-45As changed course and the pilot-operator allowed it to attack the simulated ground-based radar. Following a successful strike, another simulated threat emerged and was subsequently destroyed by the second X-45A. The two X-45As completed their mission and safely returned to Edwards.
Amazing. Did I say how hot that day was?
1 comment:
I think most people don't appreciate how revolutionary that flight was.
These UAVs were not being flown in real-time like remote-control toys. Nor were they flying themselves to track a pre-determined imaginary path in the sky. They located the targets by themselves, calculated what path to fly in order to be in a good position to attack the targets, and then computed and flew that bombing run, deciding when to release the weapons for the best chance of hitting the target.
This is VERY different (and much much harder) than current UAVs, which are guided by humans and/or only fly pre-determined paths. A UAV that can "think on its feet" like that, and figure out what to attack and how, only needing a human in the loop to give it a thumbs-up... is scary indeed. I, for one, welcome our new... ;]
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