Vulture Air Vehicle Program

WOW i'm excited over this!!!
The government is pleaing for an aircraft vehicle that stays in the air for at least five years at a time and constantly refuels itself?

Called the Vulture Air Vehicle Program, possibly after the vulture's ability to sail on thermal streams, the project "will research and develop technologies and systems which will enable the military to deliver and maintain a 1,000-pound airborne payload for an uninterrupted period exceeding five years," according to a statement from DARPA released May 16.

news.com.com...

What would the mission be for such a airplane?

DARPA didn't specify the mission of Vulture, and a representative wasn't immediately available for comment. But the agency said that it will be accept bids for the project at a Vulture information day in Arlington, Va., on June 7.

It's interesting that the mission is not being disclosed. It makes it more difficult not knowing the mission to design an airplane but not impossible. The constraints are sustained 5 year flight, without refuel and 1000 # payload capacity. I'm sure other parameters as well like altitude etc...

Well the uses could be many. With a 1000 pound payload they could use different drones for different purposes. I would imagine all would be capable of high res photography under all light conditions. It would also be possible that they could carry some type of small but powerful weapon(s). It may be possible to carry other drones. Im sure you can think of a 100 more reasons what they could use these for. These vehicles could also find commercial use in atmospheric information.

or it could be something bigger than that..

But i don't know..trying to keep it reasonable..but keep thinking out of the box than what we are used to..i think..it's a step away from making our own jetsons style future..hovering flying houses etc..

but this is mainly for the military part of the government right? so i'm not sure what i want to think they are going to use it for..
making one ship only or making a whole fleet?

they could use it to take control of a whole country actually..just get like a fleet consisting of like 100 or something making them all flying over and monitoring a country and daring them to do something, or they'll unleash all the payloads from each and every ship..

getting super futuristic here..

[edit on 22-5-2007 by Netami]

Originally posted by Netami
..just get like a fleet consisting of like 100 or something...

[edit on 22-5-2007 by Netami]

I was thinking having about 5000 of these things in the air at all times while being monitored on shifts from different miltary personnel teams would be pretty efficient. Assign your teams to specific projects and have team members rotate these shifts so that they stay concentrated on the effort at hand. Teams can work together in coordinated recon or attack, but can also be kept compartmentalized to assure secrecy and prevent large scale liability with intelligence loss, spying, or black ops. It sure would be fun to lead that organization. Members of our armed forced raised on video games but now with ones that have real life consequences all from behind the safety of a screen. Sure sounds like something I would want on my side.

I'd imagine its gonna be based on those balloons that were floating around on the forum a while back.


To be used for things like AWACs (with the radar feed datalinked to ground stations) and maybe as a relay station for a ground based laser.

Possible Uses:

Aerial mapping, photo surveilance
Communications relay (cell tower microwave etc)
Downlooking radar station
Laser based weapons platform
Conventional based weapons platform
Scientific instrument package platform (earth or space looking)
Scientific study of the upper atmoshpere
Global warming detection and monitoring 24/7 multiple locations
Weather monitoring station, mobile and stationary types
Battlefield monitoring/communications/radar etc
Emergency satellite substitute (if satellites have been killed or malfunction)
A new Air Force One,
Personnel mission ops center, specialized, secure location (high in the atmosphere, pretty secure)
VIP sanctuary (instead of bunkers, nifty idea)
Airborne transport/prisons/internment
Secondary Air Traffic Control element
Secondary command and control element
Energy generation platform (solar/wind generation etc)

and alot more, any others have some ideas?

NASA had a solar powered drone they were testing in Hawaii before it crashed. It was able to stay aloft for hours at first, and they were eventually going to work up to days.

The Helios Prototype was a unique electrically powered experimental lightweight flying wing developed by AeroVironment, Inc., under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program. Using energy derived from the sun by day and from fuel cells at night, the Helios Prototype was designed as the forerunner of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles that could fly on ultra-long duration environmental science or telecommunications relay missions lasting for weeks or months without using consumable fuels or emitting airborne pollutants.

Unfortunately, the program suffered a major setback when the Helios experienced control difficulties while on a checkout flight on June 26, 2003, and the aircraft suffered some structural failures and was subsequently destroyed when it fell into the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles west of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The experimental fuel cell system carried aboard the Helios Prototype on that flight was lost. An investigation to determine the cause(s) of the control problems that led to the loss of the craft is still in progress as of this writing.

NASA established two major goals for the Helios Prototype uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV). The first milestone was to reach an altitude at or near 100,000 ft. on a single-day flight with a small payload. This mission was to demonstrate that an aircraft could carry a science instrument to extreme altitudes. The power required to lift a small (100 lb.) payload to 100,000 ft. also enables the aircraft to carry much larger (600 lb.) payloads to altitudes up to 70,000 ft., making the Helios platform a versatile UAV.

In diminishing sunlight on August 13, 2001, Helios effectively demonstrated this capability when it reached an unofficial record altitude for non-rocket-powered aircraft of 96,863 feet.

www.nasa.gov...

here's some additional info on the Pathfinder and Helios projects

NASA claimed that if the concept the prototype embodied proved itself, then multi-month flight would become feasible. Accordingly, Helios was a forerunner of what some call artificial "atmospheric satellites". NASA claimed such atmospheric satellites might someday replace conventional artificial satellites.[citation needed]

Wikipedia

The Helios Prototype is an enlarged version of the Centurion flying wing, which flew a series of test flights at Dryden in late1998. The craft has a wingspan of 247 feet, 41 feet greater than the Centurion, 2 1/2 times that of its solar-powered Pathfinder flying wing, and longer than either the Boeing 747 jetliner or Lockheed C-5 transport aircraft. It is one of several remotely-
piloted aircraft, also known as uninhabited aerial vehicles or UAV's, being developed as technology demonstrators by several small airframe manufacturers under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project.

Helios Videos

Pathfinder is a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof of concept vehicle for a much arger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time.

Pathfinder Videos

now with the informative aspects aside, wouldn't a fleet of these give a whole, new -- and quite literal meaning to the phrase -- bombing your enemy back to the stone age?

I looks like they are going ahead with this project.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency last week awarded contracts to Manassas, Va.-based Aurora Flight Services and top defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin to develop working prototypes of the Vulture, according to the aerospace news service Flight.

Fox News




[edit on 22-4-2008 by hoppy]

Would it be retrievable?

Or would they just let it crash?

It looks like an upgraded Helios to me.

Shattered OUT...

In fact the airplane will have to be incredibly lightweight, and thus fragile, and have good solar cells, but what the designers (dreamers) never think about is that even with 100% efficient energy train, the main limitation is… the sun’s energy per square meter. Have a look at the nice PhD Thesis report entitled “Design of Solar Powered Airplanes for Continuous Flight”, it covers the subject very concretely.
robotics.ethz.ch...

I guess the problem with energy (fuel) to stay aloft for five years would be pretty simple to solve. The problem of maintenance would be much harder. I have never heard of an aircraft that would require no maintenance for 5 years!!! I don't really think it will even be possible in very near future. Any solution to this problem??

Just another way for big-G to keep an eye on its sheeple. Another expensive toy to pay for when millions of taxpayers right now cant even pay for their homes or food on the table.

With that in mind, does the country really need this 15 year old technology that really doesnt have much to offer other than to give the RC enthusiasts of the military another toy to play with?

NASA had plans for one of these to be used in a flight mission on Mars to fly around and examine the Valles Marinaris canyon. It was proposed back in 2002 shortly after Odyssey's arrival. But the plan was scrapped due to expense and no real time flight control ability. It would be too much of a mission risk to just let the computers control it with the 20 minute lag time in telemetry.

As far as practical military applications, the thing moves so slow and would be an easy target to hit by enemy missiles. They would have better use out of the Predator variants. At least that thing can fly faster and evade incomming vs this slow moving solar powered feather flyer.



Cheers!!!!

[edit on 10-1-2009 by RFBurns]