Skunk Works unveils secret Polecat UAV

Janes ^ | 19 July 2006 | Nick Cook

[Ben Mugged]

The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works revealed on 19 July that it has secretly built and flown a large, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that has been designed to test a range of new technologies critical to what the company foresees as a ‘third-generation’ of unmanned platforms that will emerge in the US in the next decade.

Nicknamed Polecat, the high-altitude flying wing demonstrator was launched in March 2003 with USD27 million of internal Lockheed Martin funding and was completed 18 months later. It did not fly, however, until last year. Its key feature is an advanced laminar flow wing that confers a blend of high aerodynamic efficiency with a very low observable (VLO) radar cross-section.

According to Frank Cappuccio, the head of Skunk Works, the Polecat demonstration programme was configured to give Lockheed Martin an insight into three areas critical to next-generation UAVs: reducing the manufacturing costs associated with new, largely composite airframe designs; lowering the capital cost of UAV manufacture through advanced tooling techniques; and integrating a fully autonomous flight control and mission-handling system that will allow future UAVs to conduct their missions, from take-off to landing, without the intervention of human operators.

Polecat technology could lead to two operational vehicles, according to Cappuccio: an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) vehicle with a U-2-like (1,800 kg) sensor payload and a 24-hour endurance; or a long-range strike aircraft with a 6,800 kg payload and a 3,700 km operational radius. He added, however, that Lockheed Martin is still pushing the idea of a supersonic UCAS for the LRS mission, citing studies that show that it would be seven times more survivable than a subsonic UCAS and five times better than the FB-22 bomber derivative of the F-22 fighter.

[Ben Mugged]

Third generation UAV. Interesting......

[Red Badger]

Unveiled, but no pics.....

[BurbankKarl]

well, since the F35 will be the last manned fighter....

[catbertz]

interesting testbed, and it looks gorgeous too.

I'll add a link to a story about how they "print" the polecat with rapid prototyping printers.* Not trying to threadjack, but rather contribute to the topic*

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn9602&feedId=online-news_rss20

[catbertz]

[Ben Mugged]

The division, also known as Skunk Works, released a photograph (below) of the Polecat high altitude unmanned aerial demonstrator flying over "a remote desert location." The Polecat UAV is a blended wingbody aircraft that appears to be a miniaturised version of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The UAV will be developed for sustained high altitude operations, the company says.

[radar101]

.....

[patton]

Printable link to prinable aircraft

[stainlessbanner]

Aviation ping

[ZGuy]

Doesn't the mere fact that they have unveiled Polecat tell us that it is not the latest thing we're using? I've got to assume that "whatever we know about" is at least one technology generation behind what is really the cutting edge.

[Liberty Valance]

[Mr. Jeeves]

LOL! That would be a lot cheaper - just velcro a handful of those X10 spy cameras onto a flock of pelicans and turn 'em loose. Totally immune to anti-aircraft missiles and great close-up photos of the Iranian inflatable navy making their way through the rookery. ;)

[Aquinasfan]

and integrating a fully autonomous flight control and mission-handling system that will allow future UAVs to conduct their missions, from take-off to landing, without the intervention of human operators.

Whoa.

[evets]

[Centurion2000]

That's nice .. now what's it look like from the top or the bottom?

[r9etb]

and integrating a fully autonomous flight control and mission-handling system that will allow future UAVs to conduct their missions, from take-off to landing, without the intervention of human operators....

Well, not really "whoa." While it's no doubt a step up, it's probably not much different from the sorts of autopiloting done by cruise missiles, JDAM bombs, or the current crop of high-end UAVs. Which is to say: the controllers will program in a flight path and sensor target set, and then use GPS to keep plane and sensors on-path and on-target.

I'd imagine that the new guidance and tasking system will permit in-flight retasking (i.e., give the UAV a new flight path and/or target set), which is primarily a COMM issue.

The most difficult part is still the transition to man-in-the-loop control, which I have to think will still be something the DOD would want to have on any UAV.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

pole·cat P Pronunciation Key (plkt)
n.
A chiefly nocturnal European carnivorous mammal (Mustela putorius) of the weasel family that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and ward off enemies. Also called fitch.
Any of various related mammals of Asia, especially Mustela eversmanni of central Asia.
See skunk.

[woofer2425]

Hilarious!!! Great and quick wit..loved the picture of the hummingbird....a...pelican.

[dalereed]

Load up their beaks with explosives and train them to be kamakazi birds!

[dighton]

... just velcro a handful of those X10 spy cameras onto a flock of pelicans and turn 'em loose. Totally immune to anti-aircraft missiles and great close-up photos of the Iranian inflatable navy making their way through the rookery. ;)

If I recall X10’s popups correctly, they only pick up images of young women.