A Chief Scientist for the Munitions Directorate of the AFRL at Elgin AFB sent us these photos of a Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle, but provided no elaboration.
The photos appear to show the aircraft in a ferrite anechoic chamber.
There is no scale reference, so we are left to guess the size.
The flexible wing flight control surfaces obviously represent some challenges to the Kutta-Joukowski Theorem. As far as structural characteristics, we believe the fuselage might be of aggregate carbon fiber compositry. The surveillance and target acquisition sensor array integrated into the foreplanes are likely superplastically formed and diffusion bonded.
A real mystery is the polyimide MLI covering the vehicle, suggesting it may be capable of spaceflight.
The photos appear to show the aircraft in a ferrite anechoic chamber.
There is no scale reference, so we are left to guess the size.
The flexible wing flight control surfaces obviously represent some challenges to the Kutta-Joukowski Theorem. As far as structural characteristics, we believe the fuselage might be of aggregate carbon fiber compositry. The surveillance and target acquisition sensor array integrated into the foreplanes are likely superplastically formed and diffusion bonded.
A real mystery is the polyimide MLI covering the vehicle, suggesting it may be capable of spaceflight.
Nuclear power?
ReplyDeleteSolar collectors in the wings with a disbursement factor of x>0?
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