Originally Posted by
glad rag
Originally Posted by
FODPlod
I wonder how many other missile test firings this particular QF-4 has 'survived' during its service?
It's almost as though someone might want to retain its DAS and other expensive gizmos and recover the full telemetry data for detailed analysis.
I believe we've even flown the odd re-usable target drone in the past ourselves.
ROFL.
Sure let's leave the data "lying around" to be recovered.
After all it's only the performance of the primary AA weapon with the future mainstay of western manned aviation.
Mind you, probably safer than being held on a LM database.
ROFL.
Education can be a wonderful thing:
...In support of U.S. test and evaluation activities, Phantom drones also act as targets for non-lethal tests of missiles, radar and other sensors, and defensive systems. They also support Air Force and Navy training, such as "Combat Archer" missile shoots. Both services also employ sub-scale target drones, which are less costly to operate than FSATs. But only a full-scale target offers the flight characteristics, performance envelope – including subsonic and supersonic flight at altitudes up to and above 50,000 feet – endurance, radar and infrared (IR) signatures, and damage resistance of a real aircraft....
...To evade the weapon system under test, the drone’s flight profile may include defensive maneuvers (including 6-G turns and vertical maneuvers), chaff and flare releases, and radar jamming. Test results are recorded by telemetry and, at WSMR, by optical systems. If the drone is destroyed, its wreckage falls onto the range...