New spy plane flies for 5 years unmanned

March 6, 2008 at 1:00 pm

DARPA have designed an unmanned spy plane that can, in theory, stay up in the air for five years straight. Essentially, the Vulture is an aircraft that operates like a satellite, but is not regulated by orbital mechanics. DARPA has set the goals for Vulture as five years on station with a 450kg (1,000lb) payload, 5kW of onboard power and sufficient loiter speed to stay on station for 99% of the time against winds encountered at 60,000-90,000ft altitude,

DARPA Vulture

“It could be positioned over the battle, at 65,000ft versus 260 miles,” says Pulliam. Operating as a pseudo-satellite in the stratosphere and not low Earth orbit would provide a 65dB improvement in communications capability, he says, and significantly increase onboard sensor resolution.It’s still a mystery how the craft will fly at its prescribed 60,000 to 90,000-foot altitude for so long, but DARPA has ruled out radioactive fuel, so maybe it has something to do with fuel cells, solar energy, or a combination of the two. NASA, the originator of the graphic above, could have something to do with the technology that will accomplish this feat, but DARPA’s not naming any partners just yet.

Via Gizmowatch via Dvice

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One Response to “New spy plane flies for 5 years unmanned”

towlie on March 6th, 2008 11:55 pm

Looks like its gonna be based on the nasa Helios solar plane they had that up for days on end with solar and battery power.