The design for a ‘tail sitter’ drone which lands on its tail, has been revealed by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in the United States.
The drone, which the company says does not require a runway to land, has the ability to land anywhere on its tail.
PHOTO: US Navy and US federal government/ Mail Online
The design is part of Northrop’s proposal for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Tern programme.
According to FlightGlobal, DARPA plans to ink a contract in January to build and fly a full-scale prototype from a barge or decommissioned navy ship, says Chris Hernandez, senior vice-president of research, technology and advanced design for Northrop.
Northrop’s tail sitter design includes a set of large counter-rotating propellers covering almost two-thirds of a roughly 9.14m (30ft)-diameter wingspan and it carries weapons and sensors as stores underneath the wing, reveals Hernandez.
PHOTO: US Navy and US federal government/ Mail Online
While Northrop is not releasing pictures or drawings of its Tern concept, it displayed a model of the aircraft for journalists on a tour in Los Angeles.
Daniel Patt of DARPA who heads the programme, said, “Effective 21st-century warfare requires the ability to conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike mobile targets anywhere, around the clock. Current technologies, however, have their limitations.”
PHOTO: US Navy and US federal government/ Mail Online
Northrop’s unmanned Tern design harkens back to the manned Lockheed XFV-1 concept of the early 1950s, which also featured a tail-sitter configuration. But Northrop adds to the tail-sitter approach by combining the engine with a pure flying wing design, a hallmark of several of the company’s bomber and surveillance aircraft since the mid-1930s.
DARPA wants an unmanned vehicle that can operate from DDG-class ships or smaller, with the ability to carry a 272kg (600lb) payload up to 900nm (1,670km) with a further capability to land vertically on a rolling deck in Sea State 5 conditions.
Earlier, Northrop Grumman disclosed an image of a new stealth ‘superjet’ capable of firing laser weapons.
