That’s the name of the Rutanesque design first whose photograph first graced these pages on the 5th of May. The cat being summat out of the bag, NGC has openly unveiled the project:
The Firebird would compete for Pentagon contracts with the Predator and Reaper drones that have become ubiquitous in skies over Iraq and Afghanistan. Made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. of the San Diego area, Predators and Reapers are often armed with Hellfire missiles or laser-guided bombs as they buzz over the war zone.
Although the Firebird is being touted mainly as an unarmed spy plane, Northrop officials said the Firebird would have the capability to be outfitted with missiles.
Northrop has been testing the aircraft, which resembles a massive dragonfly, at the Mojave Air and Space Port for more than a year as engineers fine-tune the technology.
The Firebird will have a demonstration flight for military brass this month at the Pentagon’s Empire Challenge, a showcase where defense companies demonstrate technologies that can be used in the field in the near term.
Northrop has touted the airframe’s flexibility to go manned or unmanned as the mission dictates. And as Claudio pointed out last week, this design could make transiting the National Airspace System somewhat easier to coordinate, since the FAA is growing increasingly concerned about the lag times between ATC commands and drone responses in our already heavily trafficked air corridors, point-to-point line of sight communications having characteristically less latency than routed IP traffic over satellite comms paths. For the first we assume a three second reaction time when ATC points out traffic. For the second, the commands must move from the TRACON to the UAS, thence to a satellite, from there to a ground station, where the flight control command is then sent back to the UAS via satellite, inducing delays of unpredictable length.
It would be hard, I think, to recruit military aviators to fly an aircraft that really can do it all without them. But I can think of one or two retired military aviators, at least, that would be up for the challenge.
My contact data is at the top of the page.
Lex, if you’re serious, contact NGC. I think they’re looking for BAMS and BAMS-D pilot candidates.
Yeah, but at Pax I think. Can’t move yet.
Bad link, Lex.
Fixed, thanks.
I always said that I would fly anything for a living. I think that would be like watching paint dry, so no thanks. Sounds like the only role of the human is comms with ATC.
So we are finally entering the period that SciFi has long predicted, where the pilot is naught but backup for the automation?
Might be ‘progress’ of a sort, but not the kind that makes me glad.
I like tech that enables people, not that supplants them. I guess I’m old-fashioned that way.
Actually, no. The boxes have hands of gold…and wits of lead. The aircrew is still responsible to making the decisions. All the automation does is to execute orders.
Seems like we are living in a movie….Soon we will rely on the machines just a little too much..
The Terminator: The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 2017. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Sarah Connor: Skynet fights back.
The Terminator: Yes. It launches its missiles against the targets in Russia.
John Connor: Why attack Russia? Aren’t they our friends now?
The Terminator: Because Skynet knows the Russian counter-attack will eliminate its enemies over here
John Connor: We’re not gonna make it, are we? People, I mean.
The Terminator: It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves.
John Connor: Yeah. Major drag, huh?
Or the other movie: 2001-A Space Odyssey.
Pilot in Command: “Firebird, steer left 200 degrees at flight level 300″
Firebird” “I can’t do that Dave…”
More like, “Left turn, robo-Clyde!”
At times it gets to be frightening. It seems that I can’t do anything without the assistance of a gadget. Friday I played golf (poorly, but I wasn’t at work). I need my GPS to judge distances. Cell phones, PC, my 10 y/o car has more electronics than I care to think about. MP3 player for the gym, heart rate monitor for workouts and runs,etc. I’m resisting a tablet/e-reader just to have some contact with non-electronic tasks.
Micro chips are turning me into a drone.
“But I can think of one or two retired military aviators, at least, that would be up for the challenge.”
Sounds like – If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?