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July 05, 2006
Shapeshifter
The unmanned Switchblade is a bomber drone meant to be able to loiter for hours at a time and reconfigure for supersonic attack. It is an awkward looking arrangement but then I expect they said the same about the first "tanks." And look what that lead to: Daleks.
When completed (target date: 2020), it will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back. This oblique configuration redistributes the shock waves that pile up in front of a plane at Mach speeds and cause drag. When the Switchblade returns to subsonic speeds, the wing will rotate back to perpendicular.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at July 5, 2006 11:24 AM
