Russia’s MiG Aerial Combat Drone
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 7 of September , 2007 at 3:35 am
By Evan Ackerman
MiG (famous for designing such air superiority fighters as the MiG-15 and MiG 29) have revealed a full scale engineering mock-up of their new UCAV, the somewhat inauspiciously named Skat. Here are some numbers, courtesy of an article over at Aviation Week:
The single-engine subsonic design has an 11.5 meter wingspan, and it is 10.25 meters long. The UCAV has a maximum take-off weight of 10 tons, with a maximum speed of 800 kilometers per hour (497 mph) at low altitude. It is intended to carry a combat load of up to two tons, with a combat radius of 2,000 km.
Skat has two internal weapons bays, capable of carrying air-to-surface missiles as large as the Kh-31 (AS-17 Krytpon). Possible roles include the suppression and attack of enemy air defenses.
A flying prototype should be ready in about two years; another pic after the jump.
The design seems similar to Boeing’s X-45a, so here’s hoping this all leads to a remake of Top Gun without Tom Cruise or Val Kilmer.
VIA [ Danger Room ]
Category: Military
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Comment by Noein
Made Friday, 7 of September , 2007 at 11:36 am
lol skat, ohhh my stomach hurts. And Val Kilmer is the man… some of his movie choices, not so much.