Vulture UAV (DARPA program)
Submitted by Trex on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 14:31.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and its industry partners are developing a UAV that can fly unattended for five years at a time. The Vulture program is intended to create an aircraft that can fill the role of satellites without being limited by orbital mechanics and rocket launch costs. Flying at 60,000 ft., Vulture would be designed to produce a continuous high-resolution image of a battlefield within a 750-mile-dia. view.
Early in 2008, DARPA awarded $4 million design contracts to defense giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as specialty-UAV company Aurora Flight Sciences. After a winner is chosen in 2009, that company will have to prove its UAV can fly for three straight months, then for a full year during a third phase of testing. Beyond the battlefield, DARPA is hoping the mammoth flying robots will prove useful for agricultural and environmental monitoring.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing have opted for a launch-once, stay-aloft, ultrareliable aircraft with greater than 300-ft. wingspan. Aurora, meanwhile, has decided to push the envelope even more: Its Odysseus proposal features three smaller, modular aircraft that take off separately and then join together at the wingtips to create one giant, 500-ft.-wide craft.
Early in 2008, DARPA awarded $4 million design contracts to defense giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as specialty-UAV company Aurora Flight Sciences. After a winner is chosen in 2009, that company will have to prove its UAV can fly for three straight months, then for a full year during a third phase of testing. Beyond the battlefield, DARPA is hoping the mammoth flying robots will prove useful for agricultural and environmental monitoring.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing have opted for a launch-once, stay-aloft, ultrareliable aircraft with greater than 300-ft. wingspan. Aurora, meanwhile, has decided to push the envelope even more: Its Odysseus proposal features three smaller, modular aircraft that take off separately and then join together at the wingtips to create one giant, 500-ft.-wide craft.
