Video Friday: Aurora Excalibur VTOL UAV
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 24 of July , 2009 at 5:36 am
We’ve seen plenty of airplane UAVs, some helicopter UAVs, and even some VTOL UAVs, but the Aurora Excalibur looks like it has the potential to be versatile enough to satisfy just about any requirement for both hovering and speed. The Excalibur uses one centrally mounted rotating jet engine, plus three electrically driven lift fans, one in the nose and two in the wings… It’s a little bit like the system that the F-35 B uses. The target specs for the Excalibur include a payload of 4 Hellfire missiles and a top speed of nearly 500 mph, which is about 7 times as fast as the current generation of Predator drones.
There aren’t as many details on the autonomous capabilities of the Excalibur, but it will be able to completely fly itself, as opposed to the glorified remote control that most current tactical drones depend on. Of course, whether or not the Excalibur will ultimately be allowed to operate in a tactical capacity outside of human control is another matter entirely, but the UAV has a long way to go beyond this first test flight before that becomes a concern.
[ Aurora Flight Sciences ] VIA [ Danger Room ]
Comments (1)
Category: Military
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Comment by classy
Made Saturday, 25 of July , 2009 at 4:03 pm
isn’t this what the moller company been trying to do for the past 50 years?? this right his is a flying car!