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Boeing X-45A
The Boeing X-45 unmanned combat air vehicle is a concept demonstrator for a "next generation" of completely autonomous military aircraft, developed by Boeing's Boeing Phantom Works, Phantom Works. Manufactured by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, the X-45 was a part of DARPA's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems, J-UCAS project. Development Boeing developed the X-45 from research gathered during the development of the Boeing Bird of Prey, Bird of Prey. The X-45 features an extremely low-profile dorsal intake placed near the leading edge of the aircraft. The center fuselage is blended into a swept wing, swept lambda wing, with a small exhaust outlet. It has no vertical control surfaces — split ailerons near each wingtip function as asymmetric air brakes, providing rudder control, much as in Northrop Grumman, Northrop's flying wings. Removing the pilot and its associated facilities from the aircraft dramatically reduces the aircraft's cost. Ground-based pilots execute the higher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircraft ordnance such as missiles, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and/or Aerial bomb, bombs in hardpoints for drone strikes. These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy. UCAVs are used for reconnaissance, attacking targets and returning to base; unlike Loitering munition, kamikaze drones which are only made to explode on impact, or unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicle, surveillance drones which are only for gathering intelligence. Aircraft of this type have no onboard human pilot. As the Radio control, operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal, equipment necessary for a human pilot is not needed, resulting in a lower weight and a smaller size than a manned aircraft. Many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is Edwards, California. Established in the 1930s as Muroc Field, the facility was renamed Muroc Army Airfield and then Muroc Air Force Base before its final renaming in 1950 for World War II United States Army Air Forces, USAAF veteran and test pilot Glen Edwards (pilot), Capt. Glen Edwards. Edwards is the home of the Air Force Test Center, U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. It is the Air Force Materiel Command center for conducting and supporting research and development of flight, as well as testing and evaluating aerospace systems from concept to combat. It also hosts many test acti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator Program
The United States Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) program consists of * Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus * Northrop Grumman X-47B The UCAS-D program was to demonstrate the feasibility of operating an unmanned vehicle on an aircraft carrier. Technology and operational procedures gained from the program and X-47B demonstrator were used to develop an operational unmanned carrier aircraft through the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. After debate over whether the UCLASS should primarily focus on stealthy bombing or scouting, the Pentagon instead changed the entire program into the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System (CBARS) program. This new program intended to create an UAV for aerial refueling duties to extend the range of manned fighters. This new project lead to the development of the aerial refueling drone, the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray. See also * UCLASS * Drone carrier A drone carrier is a crewed or uncrewed sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KC-135 Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave the aircraft the internal designation of Model 717 (number later assigned to a Boeing 717, different Boeing aircraft). The KC-135 was the United States Air Force (USAF)'s first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter, KC-97 Stratofreighter. The KC-135 was initially tasked with refueling strategic bombers, but it was used extensively in the Vietnam War and later conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm to extend the range and endurance of US tactical fighters and bombers. The KC-135 entered service with the USAF in 1957; it is one of nine military fixed-wing aircraft (six American, three Russian) with over 60 years of continuous serviceThe nine military fixed-wing aircraft with over 60 years of continuous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerial Refueling
Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft are in flight. The two main refueling systems are '' probe-and-drogue'', which is simpler to adapt to existing aircraft and the '' flying boom'', which offers faster fuel transfer, but requires a dedicated boom operator station. The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue/physical needs and engineering factors such as engine oil consumption. Because the receiver aircraft is topped-off with extra fuel in the air, air refueling can allow a takeoff with a greater payload which could be weapons, cargo, or personnel: the maximum takeoff weight is maintained by carrying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-2 Spirit
The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American Heavy bomber, heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth aircraft, stealth technology designed to penetrator (aircraft), penetrate dense anti-aircraft warfare, anti-aircraft defenses. A Subsonic aircraft, subsonic flying wing with a crew of two, the plane was designed by Northrop Corporation, Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) as the prime contractor, with Boeing, Hughes Aircraft Company, Hughes, and Vought as principal subcontractors, and was produced from 1988 to 2000. The bomber can drop conventional weapon, conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty Mark 82 bomb, Mk 82 Joint Direct Attack Munition, JDAM Global Positioning System, GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged in-service aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface missile, air-to-surface Standoff missile, standoff weapons in a stealth configuration. Development began ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thrust Vectoring
Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to Aircraft flight control system, control the Spacecraft attitude control, attitude or angular velocity of the vehicle. In rocketry and ballistic missiles that fly outside the atmosphere, aerodynamic Flight control surfaces, control surfaces are ineffective, so thrust vectoring is the primary means of Flight dynamics (fixed-wing aircraft), attitude control. Exhaust vanes and Gimbaled thrust, gimbaled engines were used in the 1930s by Robert H. Goddard, Robert Goddard. For aircraft, the method was originally envisaged to provide upward vertical thrust as a means to give aircraft vertical (VTOL) or short (STOL) takeoff and landing ability. Subsequently, it was realized that using vectored thrust in combat situations enabled aircraft to perform various maneuvers not available to conventional-en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaw Axis
An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: '' yaw'', nose left or right about an axis running up and down; ''pitch'', nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing; and ''roll'', rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as ''vertical'', ''lateral'' (or ''transverse''), and ''longitudinal'' respectively. These axes move with the vehicle and rotate relative to the Earth along with the craft. These definitions were analogously applied to spacecraft when the first crewed spacecraft were designed in the late 1950s. These rotations are produced by torques (or moments) about the principal axes. On an aircraft, these are intentionally produced by means of moving control surfaces, which vary the distribution of the net aerodynamic force about the vehicle's center of gravity. Elevators (moving flaps on the horizontal tail) produce pitch, a rudder on the vertical tail produces yaw, and ailerons (flaps on the wings t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is approximately northeast of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton; Wright Field is approximately northeast of Dayton. The host unit at Wright-Patterson AFB is the 88th Air Base Wing (88 ABW), assigned to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Air Force Materiel Command. The 88 ABW operates the airfield, maintains all infrastructure and provides security, communications, medical, legal, personnel, contracting, finance, transportation, air traffic control, weather forecasting, public affairs, recreation and chaplain services for more than 60 associate units. The Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center, National Air and Space In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Museum Of The United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum is a central component of the National Aviation Heritage Area. The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio. History The museum dates to 1923, when the Engineering Division at Dayton, Ohio, Dayton's McCook Field first collected technical artifacts for preservation. In 1927, it moved to then-Wright Field in a laboratory building. In 1932, the collection was named the Army Aeronautical Museum and placed in a Works Progress Administration, WPA building from 1935 until World War II. In 1948, the collection remained private as the Air Force ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
