UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

FARNBOROUGH, England — BAE Systems and the British Ministry of Defence demonstrated several new radar-evading stealth technologies during recent flight trials of their Taranis drone program, officials said July 15 at the Farnborough International Air Show.

During a second phase of flight trails conducted earlier this year, Taranis flew successfully with a conformal data system, meaning it was able to collect, organize and transmit relevant air data without needing to use an external probe or boom, said Chris Garside, engineering director for Future Combat Air Systems, BAE Systems.

“The air data boom was replaced with a clean nose of the aircraft. A suite of software was implemented to match those configuration changes. The system generated a full set of flight data without the use of an external probe or boom which would have impacted the low-observable characteristics of the platform,” Garside said.

Typically, nose-mounted air-data systems are used to collect information such as altitude, the drone’s position, angle of attack and slide slope data, he added. The Taranis demonstrated an ability to do all of this while reducing its radar signature by removing an external probe.

“We were particularly pleased with the handling and performance of the aircraft and it fully validated the design objectives which we had set out at the beginning of the program,” Garside said.

In development since 2006, Taranis is a once-secret developmental stealthy drone program jointly funded by BAE Systems and the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence. Other industry participants include engine-builder Rolls Royce, QinetiQ and GE Aviation.

This most recent, second phase of flight testing followed a first phase which took place last year, Garside explained. The concept behind the Taranis development is to refine and advance unmanned stealth technology for the UK and achieve new levels of combat air capability, Garside said.

The trials examined sensor integration for the Taranis as well as navigation, automation technology and communication systems.

The flight trials also successfully demonstrated heat and infrared signature-reducing techniques using an internally embedded gas turbine engine and strategically-shaped exhaust system, said Conrad Banks, Chief Engineer, Research and Technology, Rolls Royce.

“The challenge for us in Rolls Royce is not about the engine but about the [low observable] exhaust system – fully embedded and hiding the gas turbine within the heart of the aircraft. That is essential to minimize the radar cross-section. You would not see any indications that there is an engine in the aircraft,” Banks said.

The shape of the exhaust is used to control and disperse the airflow leaving the drone, thereby lessening the heat and infrared signature, he explained.

“Minimizing the infrared signature is a highly complex arrangement. You have a very rectangular exhaust that will enable the plume to be dispersed very rapidly — so you can minimize the infrared signature. The angle of the exhaust is aligned exactly with the rest of the aircraft so that the exhaust creates no further signature. The internal geometry is very complex,” Banks said.

Garside said the British Ministry of Defence has embarked upon a collaborative study with the French Ministry of Defence to explore the feasibility of unmanned combat drones. The study may result in individual drone platforms being developed by the respective countries or could lead to a UK-French joint stealthy drone program, Garside explained.


Read more:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Defense.org

Click to expand...

Bernard said:

...

Britain’s Stealth Drone Hits Breakthrough



If they can make this capable to fly and land on UK's new carriers that would be awesome

Click to expand...

​

Naval Today said:

Just days after the naming ceremony for her sister, a giant segment of the second of Britain’s two new aircraft carriers has been completed.

Loaded on to a barge in Glasgow is an 8,000-tonne section of HMS Prince of Wales, ready to be transported around the top of Scotland from the Clyde to the Forth.

The segment – Lower Block 03 is roughly the size of a Type 45 destroyer and contains 160 cabins, engine spaces, bakery and part of the carrier’s cavernous hangar (which is wide enough to accommodate two Type 23 frigates side by side).

Over the weekend it was carefully manoeuvred out of the BAE Systems shipbuilding hall at Govan and on to a barge alongside on the Clyde.

Weather permitting, it’s due to sail on the 600-mile voyage to Rosyth where it will join several sections of the second 65,000-tonne flat-top which are awaiting assembly in the dockyard.

They have been waiting for HMS Queen Elizabeth to vacate the enormous, enlarged dry dock where the flagship has been pieced together over the past few years.

Flooding up of the dock is taking place this week with the carrier due to be inched out shortly into the neighbouring basin for fitting out to begin.

Once she’s been moved, assembly of the Prince of Wales’ sections – built at six yards across the land – is due to start in September.

Press Release, July 15, 2014

Click to expand...

In September the Royal Air Force will receive its first aircraft A400M Atlas

Click to expand...

Obi Wan Russell said:

Afloat at last!View attachment 10051View attachment 10052View attachment 10053View attachment 10054

Click to expand...