Taranis

[ORAC]

A follow on to Corax (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4617588.stm), or a more refined design for the UCAV portion of FOAS?

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6218060.stm): BAE wins £124m aircraft contract

The Ministry of Defence has awarded a £124m ($244m) project to develop an unmanned aircraft to BAE Systems. BAE Systems, the UK's largest defence group, will lead a team including Rolls-Royce, Qinetiq and Smiths.

Called Project Taranis, the plane will be about the size of a Hawk jet and will use a stealth design. It is not yet known how many jobs the project will create nor where it will be based. It will test whether unmanned planes can carry ground attack weapons.

Defence Procurement minister Lord Drayson has hailed Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, as "groundbreaking". "I am delighted to award this contract, which will test cutting edge technology for a new generation of equipment for our front line forces," he said.

Flight tests for the prototype have been provisionally scheduled to take place in 2010.

BAE Systems chief executive Mike Turner said it was an important project "in light of the way in which military operations are changing".......

[Melchett01]

Defence Procurement minister Lord Drayson has hailed Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, as "groundbreaking".

Taranis .... Celtic god of thunder ..... I can think of many more suitable names from Norse mythology for something russled up by BAE / Noo Labour.

1. Loki - Norse god of mishcief and a trickster. Suitably describes Baron von Wasteospace / Tony.

2. Saga - an obscure goddess. Sounds about right for what's his face, Strangley Brown.

3. Var - Norse goddess of the contract. In honour of the MOD's shambolic contracts dept that will no doubt come up with another bank account busting deal.

[gravity victim]

Possibly 'groundbreaking' is an unfortunate adjective to describe a prototype aircraft :eek:

[BEagle]

't Bungling Baron Waste o' Space has enough trouble getting 'them boogerrs at 't werrks' to build aeroplanes with pilots. Goodness knows he'll manage with unmanned aircraft (or vee-hickles, if we must use Americanizations wordwise).

[ORAC]

Well, that answers that question, its FOAS. Most interesting is that it is a UK only programme. Also loved the line that they, "ruled out a future air force consisting solely of pilotless aircraft..... :E

The Times: (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2493171,00.html) Pilotless drones to replace RAF Tornado bomber fleet

One of the frontline bombers for the RAF is to be replaced by an unmanned aircraft that will be able to seek out and attack a target by itself, the Ministry of Defence announced yesterday.

The first of the pilotless bombers is at least 14 years away. But it is already being envisaged that the successor to the Tornado GR4, the primary ground-attack aircraft, will be an unmanned air vehicle that looks like a miniature version of the American B2 bomber.

Yesterday Lord Drayson, the Defence Procurement Minister, announced a four-year £127 million programme to create a prototype called Taranis. The project is being funded jointly by the Ministry of Defence with BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ and Smiths Aerospace. Lord Drayson said that Taranis “would revolutionise the way we conduct military operations”. The concept will result in a protoype comparable in size to a Hawk aircraft and will weigh about eight tonnes.

Air Vice-Marshal Chris Moran, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, said that he could foresee the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) being armed with laser weapons. Air Vice-Marshal Moran and Lord Drayson, speaking to industry representatives in London, ruled out a future air force consisting solely of pilotless aircraft. The plan was to retain a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft, although the ratio of UCAVs and piloted bombers was yet to be decided, they said.

Under present planning, the Eurofighter/Typhoon combat aircraft now coming into service will continue as a frontline fighter and ground-attack aircraft until at least 2040; and the Joint Strike Fighter, which is being developed by the US and Britain for carrier-borne attacks, is intended to remain in service until 2047. “So you won’t see unmanned air vehicles replacing any of the frontline aircraft in the short term,” Air Vice-Marshal Moran said.

He said that an unmanned combat aircraft could be used for tracking and destroying mobile surface-to-air missiles.

Lord Drayson said that Britain had decided to develop the new type of aircraft alone, and would not be involved in any collaborative programme, either with the US or with European partners........

[Safeware]

Melch, where does that put us with Project Morrigan then? Morrigan - The Irish Goddess of Sex :)

sw

[hobie]

Morrigan - The Irish Goddess of Sex :)


Morrigan a Goddess of battle, strife, and fertility ...... She is usually seen as a terrifying figure. She is associated with war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War) and death on the battlefield .....

Sounds like someone '007' would hang around with .... :p

[Low Flier]

I like the idea, as shown in the Daily Wail (http://www.daily7mail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294037/Taranis-The-143million-unmanned-stealth-jet-hit-targets-continent.html) of displaying a breakdown warning triangle at the front.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/12/article-0-0A69FEDA000005DC-668_634x406.jpg

I should have one of those on the front of my Volvo XC70.

[BEagle]

Isn't 't Bungling Baron's new delta-drone basically a proof-of-concept technology demonstrator in its present state?

No order has been placed for 't arranis to be acquired for the RAF, as far as I'm aware.

[Sun Who]

Taranis is, no matter what BAES may claim, an effort to support Defence Industrial Infrastructure - not to develop military capability.
At inception, MoD submitted their requirements for a UCAS to industry along with the available budget. After the laughter subsided, only BAES were left standing, with a proposal to 'explore' what might be achieved in the areas of stealth and UCAS engine technology - very little else.
Compare it to the European (read French) Neuron programme or the US X45 and Taranis is revealed as a bit of a joke.
The contract was let largely on its ability to function as a piece of work to maintain/develop 'cutting edge' UK capability in this area whilst awaiting a real, funded UCAS programme.

I've worked on the edges of this programme and I am not a fan.

Sun.

[Lima Juliet]

I happen to think that this could be a fine moment for BAES, that is, if it flies successfully in the next 6 months and demonstrates it's full potential. If it is another BAES PHOENIX or HERTI, then it will be complete disaster!

http://www.vectorsite.net/twuav_11_02.jpg
http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/images/products_images/UNI48004.jpg

I, for one, have my finger's crossed that at long last they will have produced something good!

LJ :ok:

PS. Sun Who, I believe it is spelt nEUROn?? Dassault Aviation, the initiator of the European UCAV demonstrator project (http://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/defense/neuron/introduction.html?L=1)

[Gravelbelly]

In a vague attempt for accuracy (with the unlikely effect of improving Messybeast PR), it should be pointed out that PHOENIX was a GEC product. Yes folks, there was a competition between Ferranti and GEC, which GEC won.

When BAe bought the defence side of GEC-Marconi (because that moron Simpson wanted to destroy the rest of the firm, and needed to readies to overpay for stuff at the top of the tech bubble) they inherited Phoenix.

Blame the people who gave you Foxhunter and Nimrod AEW...

[The B Word]

...Nimrod MRA4 (Nimrod 2000 now 2010) and Typhoon (EFA 2000 read 2006!).

Nice try, matey! :ok:

[NutLoose]

They will have all the gay and lesbian organisations after them as the pink triangle is their symbol to indicate one is gay.................. rather apt actually.... :p


Knowing the UK PLC it's probably powered by a Surplus stock Viper LOL


Taranis

Tactical Airborne Reconnassiance Aircraft Never In Service :}

[Jackonicko]

"Compare it to the European (read French) Neuron programme or the US X45 and Taranis is revealed as a bit of a joke."

How so?

If it is another BAES PHOENIX or HERTI, then it will be complete disaster!

What's wrong with Herti?

[Gravelbelly]

..and Typhoon (EFA 2000 read 2006!)..

To be fair again, you could blame the Germans for spending years arguing about it and constantly pushing the contract signature to the right. We got the contract to build the radar demonstrator in 1990, and IIRC it was flying in one of the seven IPA by 1997.

Quick, cheap, or good - pick two.

[The B Word]

None of the above, thanks...

Late, expensive and still to prove itself on ops?

[The B Word]

JN

I'd say there's nothing wrong with the High Endurance Rapid Technology Insertion (HERTI) "demonstrator". But as a finished product, as most of the articles in the press seem to say, it needs to get a decent "sense and avoid" suite before it can flit about with "Kent & Sussex Police" on the side!

I can't imagine that Joe 'Chav'erage is going to oblige by stealing a car and sticking to the boundaries of the segregated airspace it will need to operate in.

In my opinion, all the bluster about flying UAVs in UK airspace, such as has been said about HERTI, is "pie in the sky". We need to either install a cooperative collision avoidance system or a non-cooperative one for all users. The ASTREA program has been working this for 3-4 years at a cost of about £30M between the partner companies. In hindsight they could have paid for every baloon, glider, microlight and light aircraft to have a lightweight Mode S transponder and still had change (there's roughly 17,000 on the UK register). Then they could have developed automated cooperative aurborne collision system with the next £30M for UAVs such as HERTI. But hey, who am I to judge the overinflated opinion of manufacturers thinking they will fly in un-segregated airspace anytime soon?

Finally, if HERTI was designed for the UK military, then why would they want it over Hermes450/Watchkeeper? Don't forget that the latter is a THALES (UK) project - it might be running a little late but it's nowhere near as late as other UK aircraft programs!

All, IMHO, of course...

[L J R]

The Following (Like my colleague 'B Word') is also IMHO


What's wrong with Herti?


Where do I start........

Actually - what is right with it...???

As a demonstrator, it might be OK....but don't confuse demonstration with applicability....Who actually wants 'stand-alone' autonomy - without flexibility....

[Jackonicko]

Ah OK, I get that.

I had thought the same - nothing wrong with the kit, everything wrong with the twits who think it will be sharing airspace with clods like me in my Cessna.

As to designing it for the UK military, they didn't - like all the other BAE Systems UAVs it was designed as a development/demo/demval aircraft - however they've pushed it subsequently.

(Interesting that Simon Bryant had picked up someone else's uniform jacket yesterday. He's the new C-in-C Air Command, apparently, but he'd accidentally turned up with a Navigator brevet on his jacket.........)

[27mm]

Shame on you Jacko,

Simon Bryant is a Navigator/WSO of the first water - ex F4, F14 and F3.

[Jackonicko]

Check your banter warning light for functionality, 27.

[SASless]

Bless my Trousers! Who writes these articles?

LONDON (AFP) – An unmanned jet capable of striking long-range targets has been dubbed the "combat aircraft of the future" by the Ministry of Defence.

The Taranis -- named after the Celtic god of thunder -- was unveiled at a ceremony at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, on Monday.

The £142.5 million prototype is the size of a light aircraft and has been equipped with stealth technology to make it virtually undetectable.

In a press release, the MoD described the Taranis as "a prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future."

It is built to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions while its crew stays safely on the ground and can control the aircraft from anywhere in the world.

The unmanned fighter jet can also carry bombs and missiles and, if the trials prove successful, the MoD said it should "ultimately be capable of striking targets at long range, even in another continent."
The current generation of propeller-driven drones -- such as the Predator and Reaper -- are capable of carrying missiles, but these unmanned planes can only be used in areas where the military has air dominance, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The first flight trials are due to start next year.

"Taranis is a truly trailblazing project," said Minister for International Security Strategy Gerald Howarth.
"The first of its kind in the UK, it reflects the best of our nation's advanced design and technology skills and is a leading programme on the global stage."The Taranis was created by the MOD in partnership with BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ and GE Aviation.

"Taranis has been three-and-a-half years in the making and is the product of more than a million man-hours," said Nigel Whitehead, group managing director of BAE Systems' Programmes and Support business.

"It represents a significant step forward in this country's fast-jet capability.
"This technology is key to sustaining a strong industrial base and to maintain the UK's leading position as a centre for engineering excellence and innovation."





http://static.technorati.com/09/12/09/2181/uas-possible-stealth-20091207.gif

Errrrrrr....'ave they read about the USAF's Operational Stealth UAV that is already engaged in combat operations?

Light Airplane....will tote a huge load of killer bang bang now won't it?

God of Thunder.....very aptly named as it is all chin music about a huge waste of Taxpayers money!

Carry the war to another Continent....by Gawd the the Frogs best watch out now!

"Virtually undetectable".....is that in a "virtual world" or the Real World?

Can one say "Hand Job!":D

[endplay]

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

[Tom Laxey]

Can anyone tell me what was the underlying point of this roll-out, other than more publicity, and undoubtedly some very sexy views of this sleek beast.

I suppose I'm saying that BAE have said little more than was already available about the aircraft, but the visual impact and positive media coverage will be useful, but to what ends?

Presumably everyone in the UK who needs to know about already knows, and it's not as though BAE will be able export the plane or its technology abroad?

[SilsoeSid]

Only working on the project for the last 4 years!
What was that similar looking thing in the hangar at Machrihanish mid 90's?
:suspect: