Taranis flies

reply to post by justwokeup


I really doubt it's supersonic high subsonic is more likely if it's powered by a none afterburning Adour engine.

Also I understand that it a TDP tech demo project so will not but produced :-( maybe a way for the UK to get involved in a joint project with the USA very much like Replica were used to buy a sent at the JSF table.

RAB

reply to post by RAB


It is meant to be supersonic, the first Supersonic drone actually, although I would assume there are other supersonic drones they're just black projects.

reply to post by waynos


That actually sounds really interesting.

reply to post by justwokeup


A search on flightglobal for the term "Taranis supersonic" yields 0 results, so one has to wonder where the original source for that claim comes from, for it to have appeared in every news outlet report. That's why I only said it was "from what I have read". There is every possibility that it's not accurate but there is no confirmation either way as far as I can gather.

Regarding testing the autonomy software this has been tested on the BAC One Eleven and a Tornado F.3 over previous years, this link is undated but is at least 4 years old as I recall

www.qinetiq.com...

Taranis may be more than it appears, given this work, plus previous BAE stealthy UAV test beds like Corax and Raven , I have wondered 'why just another demonstrator?'

reply to post by waynos


Checked on British Aerospaces website too, that has nothing about it being supersonic either, but there must be something to it, if the news are claiming it to be the world first supersonic drone.

reply to post by jimmyx


Like Waynos and Zaphod have said, there are only a finite amount of "designs" in which to build an aircraft, so many will look the same, superficially. One also has to consider that BAe are heavily involved in many aspects of the US Military complex and there are tech transfers, going both ways I might add.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I really is. The adverts are often as revealing as the text for instance an ad for the T-6 Texan notes Japan amongst its export customers, I assumed any Japanese Texans would be captured ones, while an ad for a Sheffield steel firm proudly proclaims it is the supplier of aircraft steel to Dornier in Germany! Ironic that they would make the return journey three years later.

The editorial tone is strongly pro German too in these pre war issues with Charles Lindbergh described as being "the only high profile American public figure who hasn't been duped by the press into being anti German". Oops

I am amazed every week.

reply to post by waynos


The engine in use on the Taranis is more than capable of doing supersonic - apparently it is the Adour Mk.951 which is the same engine used in the Jaguar. Considering the Taranis is much lighter than the Jag, it seems reasonable it can exceed mach 1.

reply to post by stumason


There are no aerodynamic reasons why not either, and even if it is an unreheated version, the English Electric P.1 went supersonic without afterburners as long ago as 1954.

Mach 1.6 would appear a reasonable estimated max, but I am, of course, guessing.

ETA. Having said that, I am also mindful of the fact that several sources, including MoD, describe Taranis as a 'fast jet', which is a standard term in the British military that just refers to our frontline aircraft. This might easily have been translated by the press into meaning supersonic, when it does not.

Found a interesting page:

www.airforce-technology.com...

Cover's Tanaris size and weight about the size and weight as the Hawk.

Considering the Hawk uses the same Engine I still really doubt that the Tanaris supersonic.

But I'm not going to labour the point I hope that the flight test program is successful and we are able to progress with a future project's based on this an excellent boost for the RAF, carrier strike and Jobs.

I just hope the project isn't Pi$$ed away like so many interesting projects.

RAB

reply to post by waynos


Thanks for the reply. I suspect its just poor journalism and a misconstrued comment has been cut and pasted. At this point all the big papers are incompetent on Defence matters. Even the Telegraph has gone right downhill.

It'll be interesting to see what becomes of this programme. It would be great to see it developed for operational use and export although I suspect it will be used to get work-share in a future european programme instead.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Is this the drone that warps it's wings instead of using traditional aileron and flaps?

And why does everyone seem to copy the latest fad? It looks like a x-47. Reminds me of the cars of the eighties where you couldn't tell them apart.

reply to post by TDawgRex


As far as I know it uses a traditional control system.

There are only so many shapes to do each mission. So you're going to get a lot that look alike.

TDawgRex
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

Is this the drone that warps it's wings instead of using traditional aileron and flaps?

And why does everyone seem to copy the latest fad? It looks like a x-47. Reminds me of the cars of the eighties where you couldn't tell them apart.

Maybe you are thinking of DEMON. Thats the BAe UAV that uses blown air instead of conventional control surfaces. Its a different research project.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Given that, like the X-47, it is a tailless stealthy pilotless combat demonstrator, it looks about as different as it can.

reply to post by justwokeup


I fear that you may be right

reply to post by Stealthbomber


The link you provide says Taranis is a joint British / French project. Is this correct? I thought the French had their own initiative in the Dassault Neuron. From everything I have read, the Taranis is exclusively a UK development.

As to supersonic. If it uses the same engines as the BAE Hawk, then one would assume the same speed limitation would apply i.e. subsonic.

I hope the UK continue with this project and don't throw in the towel and buy foreign.

Regards

reply to post by paraphi


The hawk can go supersonic in a dive, but it is mainly a high subsonic aircraft. I'll check into the French/uk thing and let you know.

reply to post by Stealthbomber


Taranis is entirely the work of BAE. The claim in the article of French participation is wrong. Even the link embedded in the claim on the article takes you to the BAE website where it lists the partners as BAE, Rolls Royce, QinetiQ and GEA, all British.

The Anglo French connection was an agreement to develop a new MALE and UCAV jointly, the MALE being based on the BAE Mantis demonstrator and the UCAV to grow out of Taranis and NeuroN.

I believe the MALE has been abandoned, I am unsure about the status of the overall agreement but I can't imagine that Italy, Germany and Sweden who were partners in NeuroN, were too pleased about it.


This was from June this year;


www.flightglobal.com...

here is a newly released video of the Taranis first flight