Robot Plane Drops Bomb in Successful California Test, Boeing Says

AP ^ | 4/18/04

[Brian Mosely]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A robotic plane deliberately dropped a bomb near a truck at Edwards Air Force Base on Sunday, marking another step forward for technology the U.S. military hopes will one day replace human pilots on dangerous combat missions.

Under human supervision but without human piloting, a prototype of the Boeing Co.'s X-45 took off from the desert base, opened its bomb bay doors, dropped a 250-pound Small Smart Bomb and then landed.

The inert bomb struck within inches of the truck it was supposed to hit, Boeing said, adding that had the bomb contained explosives, the target would have been destroyed.

"It's absolutely a huge step forward for us. It shows the capability of an unmanned airplane to carry weapons," said Rob Horton, Boeing's chief operator for the mission. "From the video, you see the weapon going down and a huge cloud of dust and the truck shaking around."

The X-45A was preprogrammed with the target coordinates and used the satellite-based Global Positioning System to adjust its course.

Horton, who was sitting 80 miles from the target, authorized the drone to drop the bomb, which was released from 35,000 feet as the plane flew at 442 mph.

The military sees such aircraft taking part in its most dangerous missions, such as bombing enemy radar and surface-to-air missile batteries, in order to clear the path for human pilots.

The Y-shaped, tailless plane has a 34-foot wingspan and weighs 8,000 pounds empty. It is the first drone designed specifically to carry weapons into combat.

Other robotic planes, including the Predator spy drone currently being used in Afghanistan, have been modified to carry weapons.

Boeing hopes to build hundreds of the X-45 planes, which would cost $10 million to $15 million each.

AP-ES-04-18-04 1928EDT

[Brian Mosely]

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/ucav.html

[tet68]

Great Hera! A robot Plane???

[null and void]

[Brian Mosely]

[DefCon]

[null and void]

neener, neener, neener!

[reluctantwarrior]

Why does it take such a large plane to drop a small bomb? 15 million? Is it gold plated?

[gortklattu]

Robot Dogfighters and air supremacy aircraft are on the drawing boards. They'll be faster, more maneuverable, and virtually unbeatable.

[DefCon]

I wonder the same thing.
What does this gain us over, say, a cruise missle?
You had to have the gps coordinates in advance, but
I guess you get more bang on target than a cruise missle
On the other hand, flying at 400 mph and 35,000 feet,
is not 'terribly' risky for a manned flight.

[DefCon]

Well, at least didn't post the same pictures!
Almost like a coordinated effort...

[Lokibob]

Cruise missile, is a one time item, fire it and a million $ is gone. This guy can be reloaded and launched again.

In addition, the article didn't say how many it could carry, it only said that it carried and dropped one during this test.

I love the fact that it comes in choice of red, white , or blue trim.

[DannyTN]

Ok so how does this compare to the Predator?

[Eala]

Why does it take such a large plane to drop a small bomb?

Is that bomb the limits of its capacity? Or were they testing other capabilities -- such as being able to deliver a bomb to a specified target, which is somewhat irrelevant to the mass of the bomb (except in its descent phase)?

[Lokibob]

Predator fires Harm missiles, this guy drops bombs, big difference.

[Lokibob]

Sorry, the predator fires the hellfire missile, and anti- armor missile weighing around 100 lbs.

[CurlyDave]

15 million? Is it gold plated?

With fighter-bombers in the $100-200 million range this thing sounds very inexpensive to me.

Advantage over a cruise missile is that it is re-useable. Even if only 75-80% make it back that is a huge savings.

[RFEngineer]

"What does this gain us over, say, a cruise missle?"

One scenario: stealthily loitering over a target area, troops or operatives on the ground can send the coordinates directly to the X45. As soon as they are transmitted and loaded into the JDAMs on board, it's bombs away.

JDAM costs a lot less than a cruise missile.

This will retire the F117 if it goes operational.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Was the test successful?
Please, Please tell me Hollyweird or Malibu ain't there anymore!

[Eastbound]

That would look great parked in my carport next to my "We Don't Dial 911" sign.

[RFEngineer]

".... they testing other capabilities "

Standard flight test. Bomb separation is not a trivial thing. Bombs can hit the plane that drops them - it's happened before. That this was successful is a significant milestone. They no doubt will test multiple bombs, different types/shapes and different altitudes.

Best part about this though is that flight-test can progress at a rapid pace because there are no golden-arm test pilots to deal with........it's a flight test engineer's dream!