Northrop reveals two new UAV concepts

The revelation of two all-new aircraft concepts from Northrop Grumman show that the manufacturer is planning an aggressive new push to expand deeper into the market for unmanned air vehicles.

The two concept designs - MQ-X and MUVR - also are the first glimpse inside Northrop's internal strategy for addressing two of the US military's potential requirements in the next decade.

MQ-X is the US Air Force term for a future replacement of the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 family of UAVs.

MUVR, meanwhile, has been identified by Northrop as a UAV that is designed to resupply the navy's ships.

Both images appeared in a 10-month-old briefing by a Northrop Grumman executive to potential subcontractors. In a slide entitled "today's focused opportunity set", the images of MQ-X and MUVR appeared in a line-up of the company's airborne programs, which then included the KC-45 tanker, aerial common sensor and EP-X.

Northrop now says both concepts are outdated, but confirms they are products of a new advanced concepts division established in January 2009 under the leadership of vice president and general manager Paul Meyer.

Both of Northrop's nearly year-old design concepts for MQ-X and MUVR appear to appropriate key technologies from the company's past even as it looks to the future.

The image of the MQ-X design concept bears more than a passing resemblance to the nose and fuselage of the RQ-4 Global Hawk, although the wings and tail surfaces are designed to meet the requirements for a medium-altitude, multipurpose UAV.

The fan-in-wing MUVR concept, meanwhile, borrows the vertical take-off and landing system last seen on the shortlived Ryan XV-5 Vertiplane. As the company that acquired Teledyne Ryan more than a decade ago, Northrop is the legacy manufacturer of the XV-5.

Northrop officials first acknowledged the MUVR's existence at last year's Paris air show after being asked to identify a grainy image that appeared in a presentation for the news media.

The blurry shape on the slide was first identified as a new UAV called WildThing, but Northrop later corrected the name of the aircraft to MUVR.

Northrop has declined to release further information about the MUVR concept, including what the acronym stands for, saying such details might compromise the company's strategy.

Comments

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF...

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite...

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog