Tech Talk

May 2005

Long-Endurance Aerial Killer Passes Test

edited by Robert H. Williams

A 500-pound inert weapon has been dropped successfully from a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The test was conducted by Northrop Grumman Corporation, working in conjunction with Scaled Composites.

The exercise in part supported a Defense Department requirement for adding weapons to a UAV of this class. The company said this aircraft will be able to both gather intelligence and deliver weapons.

The jet-powered drone will carry multi-spectral sensors to acquire targets and specialized munitions that will be deployed against them. The UAV, dubbed Model 395, has an internal payload of 900 pounds and an external capacity of 6,500 pounds