Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Perspectives. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
DARPA's new Gremlin drones fly back to their 'mothership' after completing recon missions; Fiction turning into reality.
Topic Started: Apr 15 2016, 12:07 PM (226 Views)
Demagogue
Member Avatar
Administrator
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/04/15/darpas-new-gremlin-drones-fly-back-to-their-mothership-after-completing-recon-missions.html?intcmp=hpff

Quote:
 
Now that drones have become a standard tool in our military arsenal, the next job is to make them more efficient and capable than ever before. DARPA's newest invention is the Gremlin: a drone that be deployed from a bomber while in flight, execute its mission, and then return to an extraction point where a cargo plane yanks it out of the sky and brings it safely home.

The drones are capable of flying unmanned, but being able to retrieve them makes them reusable, which is both cost-effective and convenient. But drone retrieval also protects U.S. military technology and secrets. Sending fleets of tiny Gremlins on intelligence-gathering missions is one thing, but being able to recapture them instead of leaving them in the hands of hostiles is a huge boon to the military. Gremlin drones have up to three hours to accomplish reconnaissance missions, at which time they automatically fly back to a retrieval area to be collected by a C-130 cargo plane.
Edited by Demagogue, Apr 15 2016, 12:14 PM.
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Demagogue
Member Avatar
Administrator
Hey, I think I have read this book before.

Actually I think a great deal of Dale Brown's "Dreamland" series is based around his prediction of this technology. These aircraft sound a log like his "Flight Hawks" and later "Stealth Hawks"

https://www.goodreads.com/series/40432-dreamland

A description of the bomber carried drones from Dale's books:

Quote:
 
RAQ-15 Stealth Hawk and U/MF-3 Flight HawkEdit
The U/MF-3 Flight Hawk is a small and highly maneuverable UCAV prototype. The Flight Hawk can complete a variety of missions including SEAD, reconnaissance, and COIN operations.The RAQ-15 is the advanced, longer ranged, and stealthier version of the Flight Hawk. The RAQ-15 fires small "mini-Maverick" missiles and is extremely maneuverable because of its Mission Adaptive Skin Technology and lifting body design. The RAQ-15 can be rearmed, refueled and carried by the EB-1C Vampire II. The RAQ-15 is small enough to be carried on a rotary launcher.
Edited by Demagogue, Apr 15 2016, 12:12 PM.
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Op EDITORIALS: personal & political governance · Next Topic »
Add Reply