A160 Hummingbird Warrior

The A160 helicopter demonstrator, about the size of the Predator-A, was built by Abraham Karem and his team at Frontier Systems of Irvine, California, under contract to DARPA. The A160's predicted top speed is 140 knots." The Hummingbird is 35 feet long with a 36-foot rotor diameter. The A160 prototype made its first forward flight on 29 January 2002.

The A160 will have range, endurance, and altitude capabilities unprecedented in the history of helicopter design. The A160 has a conventional main-tail-rotor helicopter configuration, but the conventional appearance is misleading. A contemporary helicopter features lightweight flexible rotors that are connected to the rotor hub through articulated joints. Such rotors are designed to provide smooth flight operation with little vibration and good control authority.

How many different types of UAV's do we have and why do we need so many different ones isn't it overkill?



www.globalsecurity.org...


[edit on 13-7-2004 by WestPoint23]

You can never have to many UCAV designs tested The range and other stats of the humming bird are amazing. More proof of the some of the advantages of taking pilots out of the loop. I wish I could see some UCAV designs that are still secret.

Hey generals like to have there options open. At least this one will be harder to detect. I'm sure many of the design concepts will go into the next manned replacement of the Apache/Commanche. We could be looking at a manned stealth helicopter.

I believe this is the reason the comache was cancelled.

How many different types of UAV's do we have and why do we need so many different ones isn't it overkill?

No clue on how many we have, but the reason for having them is simple. The technology is in it's infancy, so the more test beds you have the quicker you will progress. Since it is becoming more and more apparent that the American public frowns on soldiers getting killed, it makes sense to progress to the point where using humans in combat should be an option, not a given.

That I fear is going to be Americas down fall becoming a country full of weeping children and we cant even go to war even if we are threatened cuz the public is so against it err...

Simply put the American public doesn't like the idea of takin numerous causalties when we could just send UAVs. Heres a saying from Vietnam. "If the order comes from a higher rank then you it doesn't care about you. In simple English some higher ranking people don't understand the value of an enlisted mans life.

I would like to have robots fight our wars instead of people but we are rushing it robots still have the brain of a bug and remote control cant be used for everything.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
That I fear is going to be Americas down fall becoming a country full of weeping children and we cant even go to war even if we are threatened cuz the public is so against it err...

I couldn't agree more. If this whole terrorist thing had happened during WWII, the US would already control all of the middle east. The collective will of the American public becomes weaker with each passing day, as our eneys constitution grows stronger. This is not a good trend.

Well the reason for that is everyday more and more people get more TV channels. America has gone stupid. Now theres drugs going around even more education sucks. American society is losing its will. And putting the worlds best funded military in the hands of weak willed idiots is not a good idea.

The military requires a VTOL robotic airframe. This machine will fill a facet of various mission takings. The human being in the cockpit will never be totally replaced by robotic aircraft.
Our military is looking at the total cost of an airframe tasked to do certain missions. Eliminating an enviromental package to house a human pilot cuts down on cost. conflicts in the distant furture will be a combination of both manned and unmanned aerial vechicles.

Originally posted by American Mad Man

Originally posted by WestPoint23
That I fear is going to be Americas down fall becoming a country full of weeping children and we cant even go to war even if we are threatened cuz the public is so against it err...

I couldn't agree more. If this whole terrorist thing had happened during WWII, the US would already control all of the middle east. The collective will of the American public becomes weaker with each passing day, as our eneys constitution grows stronger. This is not a good trend.

True we got slapped in the face in 9/11 and the public still didn't wake up we have to be tough and use force against these countries and terrorist not appease them you know how that turns out, what is it going to take for the public to finally realize that we are at war with terror maybe 3.000 deaths weren't enough for them what do they need a whole city going down