BAe Taranis flies

[thorny1a]

So the Celtic "God of Thunder" aka Taranis has finally made its maiden flight... just a shame there is currently no pics or video Must be far more secret than nEUROn....

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ls-392177/

[Ravendriver2008]

http://www.janes.com/article/28899/tara ... den-flight

[Ghastly Whisper]

One more nail in the coffin for our hobby, part of me wants these things to be very successful, the other part would like them banned from use, grounded and scrapped (that goes for all UAVs)

[roughcutter]

One more nail in the coffin for our hobby, part of me wants these things to be very successful, the other part would like them banned from use, grounded and scrapped (that goes for all UAVs)

Seconded!

[RichC]

You're not missing the point, you are correct. The only difference is, the pilot is safe on the ground and can go home at the end of the day. It's still an aircraft you can take photos of at the side of the fence, pilot in it or not.

[Ghastly Whisper]

Thing is those UAV's are completely under remote control. I'm sure there are lots of safe guards, redundant systems and the like but how many of us have never suffered a computer crash? Whats to stop them being hacked into and used for nefarious purposes? (yes I know it shouldn't happen, but it could) and no it is not the same as watching a real aircraft with a real human sat in the cockpit making instant decisions. I guess they are Marmite.

[zero_gravity]

BBC news have just shown the first video of Taranis in flight

Scant details but this looks like the test flight it made last November.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... btNPNps_gc

The C17 carrying Taranis was tracked earlier in the year [ May 2013] leaving Warton and headed for Woomera where it arrived a few days later [tracked on PP ]

In the video you can just make out the low vis marking confirming its ZZ250

[Gary]

Bit of info on the rubbish government /MOD website https://www.gov.uk/government/news/firs ... ircraft--4

MOD and BAE Systems have revealed that the Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle surpassed all expectations during its first flight trials.

The most advanced aircraft ever built by British engineers made its maiden flight at an undisclosed test range on Saturday 10 August 2013 under the command of BAE Systems test pilot Bob Fraser.

MOD has today revealed that the demonstrator aircraft made a perfect take-off, rotation, ‘climb-out’ and landing on its 15-minute first flight. A number of flights took place last year, of up to 1 hour in duration and at a variety of altitudes and speeds.

The Taranis demonstrator is the result of 1.5 million man-hours of work by the UK’s leading scientists, aerodynamicists and systems engineers from 250 UK companies.

The aircraft has been designed to demonstrate the UK’s ability to create an unmanned air system which, under the control of a human operator, is capable of undertaking sustained surveillance, marking targets, gathering intelligence, deterring adversaries and carrying out strikes in hostile territory.

The findings from the aircraft’s flights prove that the UK has developed a significant lead in understanding unmanned aircraft which can strike with precision over a long range whilst remaining undetected.

The technological advances made through Taranis will also help MOD and the Royal Air Force make decisions on the future mix of manned and unmanned fast jet aircraft and how they will operate together in a safe and effective manner for the UK’s defences.

Costing £185 million and funded jointly by MOD and UK industry, the Taranis demonstrator aircraft was formally unveiled in July 2010, but only a very limited number of scientists and engineers have ever been given full access to the top secret aircraft.

Initial ‘power-up’ or ground testing commenced later in 2010 at BAE Systems’ military aircraft factory in Warton, Lancashire, followed by a comprehensive and highly detailed programme of pre-first-flight milestones.

These included unmanned pilot training, radar cross-section measurements, ground station system integration and, in April 2013, taxi trials on the runway at Warton.

The aircraft and its ground station were then shipped from Warton to the test-range before being reassembled and undergoing systems and diagnostics checks. Taranis then made a number of high speed taxi tests in July before its maiden flight in August 2013.

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Philip Dunne, said:

Taranis is providing vital insights that will help shape future capabilities for our armed forces in coming decades. Its advanced technology is testament to the UK’s world-leading engineering skills that keep Britain at the cutting-edge of defence.

Commenting on behalf of the industry team, Nigel Whitehead, Group Managing Director of BAE Systems, added:

The first flight of Taranis represents a major landmark for UK aviation. The demonstrator is the most advanced air system ever conceived, designed and built in the UK.

It truly represents an evolution of everything that has come before it. This milestone confirms the UK’s leading position as a centre for engineering excellence and innovation.

About the size of a BAE Systems Hawk aircraft, Taranis has been designed and built by BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, the systems division of GE Aviation (formerly Smiths Aerospace) and QinetiQ, working alongside MOD military staff and scientists.

In addition to prime contracting the project, BAE Systems led on many elements of the Taranis technology demonstrator, including the low observability, systems integration, control infrastructure and full autonomy elements (in partnership with QinetiQ).

Info and some pictures can be seen rubbish government /MOD website

[zero_gravity]

Of course the trial flights of the prototype models and frames for Taranis were the inspiration for the
torrent of "Black Triangle" UFO sightings across the NW UK back in the later 90's.
The large triangular RC models were flown off the Lancashire hills .

There was even speculation that the manchester near miss January 6 1995 was something to do with the trials

[2e1var]

Of course the trial flights of the prototype models and frames for Taranis were the inspiration for the
torrent of "Black Triangle" UFO sightings across the NW UK back in the later 90's.
The large triangular RC models were flown off the Lancashire hills .

There was even speculation that the manchester near miss January 6 1995 was something to do with the trials

Exactly, pure speculation, everyone knows it was a real alien UFO.

[hertsman]

- http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-d ... ting-fail/

hertsman

[PONSH]

Isn't a 'near miss' really 'a hit'?

[thorny1a]

An awesome looking beast. Just shows what British industry can still achieve Fantastic stuff!!

[C24]

Aren't UAVs just a smaller version of ICBMs? Remote targeting of the Bad Guys. More flexible of course but a different approach to solving the problem of killing BGs whilst out of harm's way yourself.
Cruise missiles, too. Taking it to the extreme, artillery shells, bullets?

Granted, we all like the secondhand experience of watching someone else flying upside down at 500 knots, 100 feet above the ground.

I like the planning for the trials in Australia. Presumably, to take advantage of the local tried and tested technology?

If the link goes down during a test flight, it will activate the Aboriginee concept & return to the thrower.

[hertsman]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ge-398678/

The Flightglobal item linked (requires free registration) gives an insight into the status and current thinking on a future UCAS, planned for joint development with the French. The armed version could be operational around 2030, and is envisaged that it would act in conjunction with manned fleets of Typhoon or Rafale fighters. I guess you can include F35 in that too.

I understand the emotive view that when that happens, some of the thrill will have gone, but I don't think progress can be held back once these developments get real momentum. All sorts of obstacles, legal, moral and technical, to come before that happens, and quite a few years too, but happen it will in my opinion. Even so I suspect we will see a sort of 'balance scales' approach. As manned vehicles reduce so unmanned will increase, although I guess there will always be roles where only an onboard pilot will do.

hertsman

[Viper28]

The only slight issue being of course that they probably won't be able to operate off our shiney new carriers because some muppets built a ramp on it!

[hertsman]

It certainly would be useful if the eventual UCAS has a carrier operation string to its bow, but I guess we are now looking at least 25 - 30 years into the future and who knows how our carriers will be configured by then. If we had to consider a STOVL design that could add to the difficulties, but by that time there should be a vast amount of practical experience of operating F35B's on a variety of carrier platforms, so maybe it might be more feasible than appears at the moment.

I haven't seen anything to suggest that carrier operations were part of this development programme. I guess there are technical challenges enough without adding that complication at this stage. Is the Neuron concept designed with operation off the French carrier in mind? I don't recall seeing that either but I'm sure someone will know if I am mistaken.

Meantime the USN is proceeding with its UCLASS development, but that will be designed to operate from their cat & trap carriers, not the US Wasp class ships, and therefore extremely unlikely to be operable from our QE class ships.

hertsman