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Edited by Christian Lowe | Contact

Robot Plane Can Transport Troops

excalibur-uav.jpg

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We're covering the Air Force Association convention this week in DC and we'll keep bringing you updates of cool tech from the show. I thought you'd be interested in the V-22 story, but I can see from the lack of comments it was ho-hum.

Here's another story from Bryant on a cool as heck drone the makers hope can be used to medivac or insert troops under fire. Sooo Alien 2...I love it. But I doubt we're at a point where a special operator would be willing to hitch a ride with a robot plane...]

Firm Building Man-carrying VTOL Drone

A Virginia-based company is hoping to test-fly a vertical take-off and landing drone before the end of this year that, ultimately, could do triple duty as strike vehicle, medevac or special ops insertion/extraction plane.

The Excalibur is currently being developed as an armed, tactical unmanned aerial vehicle by Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va., capable of carrying Hellfire anti-tank missiles and Viper Strike missiles. The Hellfire is currently mounted on Predator UAVs, while Viper Strike missiles are used for strikes on the Army's RQ-5B Hunter UAV, both fixed wing aircraft requiring traditional runway take-offs and landings.

Excalibur anticipates giving the Army -- if it chooses to follow through in developing the weapons system -- a way of delivering strikes with a VTOL-capable UAV, according to Tim Dawson-Townsend, Excalibur program manager.

The plane uses a turbine-electric hybrid propulsion system for VTOL capability and a turbine engine for horizontal flight, according to Excalibur's specs. Because the plane's flight control system would operate with a high level of autonomy, it would not be remotely controlled. The focus of the operators would be on mission planning, locating and engaging targets, the company says.

But with modifications, said Dawson-Townsend, the aircraft could carry a man. Ground forces could such a UAV to move an injured or wounded Soldier, while special operators could be dropped into our extracted from a location without the need of a pilot or even flying the vehicle themselves, he said.

According to the specs, the plane is also capable of traditional short take-offs and landings.

Patricia Woodside, public relations director for Aurora, said the Excalibur is under contract to the Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. Current funding calls for a one-hour "proof of principal" flight before the end of 2008.

The Excalibur would be heavier than the Predator -- 2,900 lbs empty versus 1,130 -- but would be smaller. The final version, expected in 2012 if funding is appropriated, would have a wingspan of 21 feet, be 23 feet long and seven feet high. The Predator has a wingspan of 27 feet, is 27 feet long and just under seven feet high.

The version to be tested by the end of the year -- pictured above -- is smaller, weighing in empty at just 620 lbs, with a 10-foot wingspan, a length of 13 feet and just five feet high, according to the specs.

-- Bryant Jordan

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Posted by: angel at October 21, 2008 05:33 AM


I used to bullseye Womp Rats with one of those on Tatooine.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at September 23, 2008 06:33 PM


My name is Silvia Teresa Osorio.
Today is Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:02p.
I was contacting your site from my desktop computer.
I am at 2161 NE 1 Avenue, Apt. # Rear, Pompano Beach, Florida 33060.
I have all my email addresses sabotaged and abused. They are: silviaosorio@juno.com (I had a series of documents saved and sabotaged in this address. They also made two unauthorized charges to my bank account causing my accounts to crash) saltoatras@yahoo.com (I had almost four thousand of documents and pictures saved in this address who promised unlimited accessed and after I posted all my iformation, they threat to deleted unless I paid for it. They did so.) silvia.osorio@att.net (They do not allow me to open links in my emails and or help me with technical support in that issue) And saltoatras@gmail.com (I have saved a lot of information in their albums and the folders of their document sight.

On or about December 19 of 2007 I wrote an email with pictures to the Broward County Housing Authority, and to my relatives in Venezuela, where I was explaining that my present landlord was keeping eight gallons of Muriatic Acid in the back yard in a box. This is a house with open access. And there are children playing around in the neighborhood. I took pictures of these gallons which were in a box in the back yard where the efficiency where I stay is located.
When I tried to retrieve this email as evidence it was erased along with the pictures.

I was food poisoned one night and also I smell muriatic acid coming from the ceiling fan. Because I reported this before, and nobody believed me, this caused me a tachycardia that prompted me to call 911 emergency number. The paramedics came and I took a picture of myself before I left the dwelling but it was erased by the time I came back from the hospital. I had seriously lost weight and in the hospital they treated me in the emergency room for a serious liver damage and highly dehydrated.

They are using biochemical bombing predicted by the C-Span, a televised access to the United States Congress, over a decade ago shall the war started in this country.

I was posting my problem in another sight you have. I have been victimized with electromagnetic torture for I believe five months now. I am not totally sure. It took me a little while to figure it out.

At first it caused me so much discomfort I couldn't hardly breath. Now that I have been able to control or get used to this discomfort, I also am using 22 decibles earplugs which it seem to help me to sleep better and a high powerful fan placed directly in front of me by the end of the bed. I have been able to sleep and breath like that.

This month, my landlord took six days to fix the regrigerator which got broken and even though I told him on time, my food got rotten and he did not reinburse me and dared to tell me I did not tell him on time. I ended up eating a lot of bad food which under my circumstances only damges my health.

Also, now is the stove that is not heating, so I cannot cook my meals or steam my meals properly.
I left a written message and copies to the Housing Authority. But nobody has send me any response.

I cannot move from my dwelling because I do not have the money for move in expenses. I most get back to work in order to do this.

I call Social Security Administration and signed up with a ticket to work program in order to get back to work and be able to move out of here.

My landlord expects me to move after the new year lease is up. So, I took some money I was saving and bought a desktop computer as I am planning to work from home.

So, I took my computer to Cellular Man at the Sunrise Swap Shop, Lauderhill, Florida to a technician in there.

I asked him to please exchange the survillance cameras' chip from my old tower to the new tower. This took me two days as I lost my car with the serious crisis and had to bring this in the bus in a carrier in two trips.

He claimed he could do the job. today when I came back to pick up my computer, he said he cannot place the chip in the new computer because it is not big enough and to call the manufature of the cameras and ask them if they have a smaller chip.

When I came home to connect the old tower to my survellance cameras, I find the now the tower doesn't work and cannot connect it. And the chip is loose dacing on the back of the computer. This was working before.

I need to have this cameras because of the extreme broke ins and stealing and raping my dwelling, and because of the constant poisoning of my food.

On top of this, I have to put up with the electromagnetic torture which keeps me from sleeping and follow a proper schedule in order to perform.

I am a woman who lives alone. I have to run errands; buy groceries now in the bus, cook at home as I live on a fixed income and cannot afford to eat out. Plus the restaurant foods are very bad for my health condition.

The anxiety that generated from the ILLEGAL eviction back in december of 2005 has never gone away. I was adviced by the Human Rights Division of Broward County to go to Consumers Affairs where in turn they told me I most sue the landlord.

I was stabbed in the back by a man in the Human Rights Division by the name of James Crown who even called me a bit... behind my back, "Don't worry, I'll take care of the bit..." because I heard him referring to me.

Then they wrote a report to make it look like it was me the one causing the problem. When in reality it was the Broward County Housing Authority and Dimitrije Garcev, the yougoslavian landlord along with his Mafia garbage tenants who were abusing and verbally assaulting me.

I appealed the case in the Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia Case No. 07-10642. The original Judge Torres from the Miami Division of the federal court, send me to pro bono lawyers in Miami to attend me and also to a mediator, both; shut the doors on my face and did not help me.

I am still suffering seriuos consequences from this inhuman displacement.

I was also raped and savaged by a man named Kenneth John Yadre. And nobody helped me with it. the Broward Sheriff's Office failed in the investigation, they asigned Jennifer Zinglo as the detective in charge who took the side of the rapist and presented a statment on his behalf and left the case as "pending active" but it was never brought to justice. By this, she obstructed justice.

The rapist continued to harass me and aggravated me to the point where I was forced to sue him in ?Florida state circuit court in Fort Lauderdale.

Judge Dorian Damoogian, also took the side of the rapist and second raped me in court by obstructing justice. They did their crime so well camoflaged that the rapist got ways intact as if he did not do anything wrong.

Then I was falsely arrested by the police and accused of many charges that were all false. DUI Deputy Craig Buttery was fired from his position because he was caught lying under oath. I was told I had grounds to sue the police department and did so in federal court also in the Southern District of Florida Case No. 06-60948 and Judge Joan A. Lenard also quickly threw it out of court.

I watched and witnessed with my own eyes for threee consecutive months how my mother was neglected to death, and inflated from 129 to 167 poung.

The chief complaint was chest pain. They went around in circles with her. The hospital district Broward County Hospital District under CEO Wil Trower, had her transferred all over the place. Then breach her contract of legal surrogate and violated her rights by finally tranferring her into a nursing home in Fort Lauderdale called Manor Oaks Nursing Home with a long due fecal impact.

They failed to give her a laxative, or even a professional enema and in twelve were feeding her very badly against her diabetic type two diet. She couldn't eat. They restricted her water and in twelve days I am the one who called 911 and had her transferred back to the hospital where they performed a seriuos bowel movement which finally killed her the next day of a heart attack.

I watched my mother died of serious medical neglect while every body just laughed around.

I spent two year begging attorneys to take the case and they all gave me the run arounds. One attorney dared to tell me over the telephone: You are a nut, and nobody is going to listen to you in cour. And you know who killed your mother? Bush, he killed your mother!" His name is Jeffrey M. Fenster with the Law Offices of Fenster and Fenster at 8751 W. Broward Bl., Plantation, Florida 33324.

I reported him to the Florida Bar, but then all the paper work was asbotaged and or stolen from my dwelling.

This is how they get away with murder down here.

Most of the nurses at the Manor Oaks Nursing Home, were foreigners. They came into the US and become nurses. Do their little nasty jobs and then get lost. They all lied in their report and I was able to prove that in court.

I went to court with this: In the Circuit Court of The 17th Judicial Circuit In and For Broward County, Florida Case No. 06-02220 (02)where even the court reporter lie in her report.

Judge Victor Tobin's statement, "I hate to see your spending your money on this" As if my mother was a worthless peace of meet for the medical system.

The case ended up stock in the Florida State Probate Court Case No. PCR 06-00-2563 where Judge Mel Grossman failed to recognized that my mother was indigent and agreed that if her rights were violated the case belongs back to federal court where I filed the case orginally, but then he denied that he told me this.

Then the case ended up stock in that court. Judge Alicia Altonaga ordered the case should be tranferred to the state forum. She presided it back in 2005 when I filed it in 2005 within the statute of limitations Case No. 05-60539.

My mother was one of Jehovah's Witnesses serving this society peaceful for 39 years. She taught all of ther eight children high moral standards and Bible principles.

Nobody helped me or attended me with my cases. I have three in state court and 13 in federal court. And was given the run around all over the place and my dwelling constantly broken in, my Bible literature stolen or destroyed.

Humilliated and laughed at it all over the place with nobody wanting to talk about. This is how the Neo-nazis, the mafia garbage and the communist rebels are killing the Jehovah's Witnesses in South Florida. My mother's case is not an isolated one. I know many others of other Jehovah's Witnesses.

The rapists case is in the state court of the 17th circuit in Fort Lauderdale, Case No. 04-002235.

I was very upset from so much obstruction of justice that I posted a lot of information in Gmail in their document access and in their photo albums.

The local law librarians were very hesitant to help me. One called me a whissler blower and the other one stated that if I wanted to do this on my own to find the books on my own.

I believe the only reason I am still alive is beause I moved quickly in the last twelve years and blew the whissle on all this loosers who deserve to be behind bars.

I also began to post my pictures in Facebook.com and yesterday and today I was so angry I posted some information I could not get on my gmail documents since the hackers on my home computer are contantly sabotaging my information.

I have been seriously assaulted in hospitals, medical procedures, and even at the Atlantic Bank.

All my rights denied at the hospitals, I have written everything in my motions.

In general, this is why they are harassing me and poisoning my food, making me beg, wrongfully terminated from my place of employment because I reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision serious sexaul harassment on the work place.

So, the electromagnetic torture is not making things any better for me. They disrrupt my sleep so that I am unable to function properly.

So, in view and with obvious and plenty of evidence that the local police along with the local judges in South Florida failed to attend me, and now have their corrupts do their little nasty jobs by torturing me and harassing me and preventing me from recovery I decided to post my history in this site hoping that it could help find a lot of criminals in the loose who like to be criminals and want to shut down the home electronic access along with the disabled's right facility of their lifeline telephones. So they can continue freely killing and with their silent genocide.

This people have manage to abuse my patience, force me to beg and pretend to humilliate me. I am a single woman who minds her own business and have no use for bad people who constantly are doing the wrong thing.

I have prove of what this electromagnetic garbage is doing to me in the documents of Gmail. I trust the military will find the hackers who want to make things impossible for the innocent victims who are suffering under this crime.

Again, I understad their are some agencies who claim to be helping people with this sinister problem that gets nothing done but causing trouble all over the place.

This sites are www.nationalcaresociety.com and www.organizedcrimewaves.com

Further, I had my autobiography in Spanish and had to throw it away because I found out it had been adulterated. Why would I want to keep something that I wrote recording crimes against my persona in a total of three countries, if they are going to adulterated and put words in my mouth that were not true.

I posted it in Facebook.com.

Because of my Internet experience, I believe that Yahoo should be put out of business. This are a bunch of nazi criminals endorsing the crimes from the nazis. Deleting sensitive information that can actually help solving crimes against the Americans, such the Baptists, the Protestants, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Jews, etc., this are the principal targets of such nazi criminals who are all over the place in South Florida causing nothing but caos. Hitler maybe managed to create perfect bodies but failed to attach any brain in them.

I am sick and tired of putting up with their gargabe. When I tell people I have been raped 109 times, they think I am lying.

God knows whom to bless and whom to provide escape. For some reason he has kept me alive through so much persecution since the age of seven.

I need to find and secure employment in order to get out of here. They do not longer have affordable rent for my fixed income in this area where most people are concentrated on how they can get their hands on me instead of helping me.

They managed by framing me to damaged and destroyed my reputation. They kept me from equal employment opportunities due to the fact of my religious preference.

I believe I managed to placed as much information as I can. And believe me, as long as a live, this is indeed what I will continue doing.

People and criminals like that deserve to have their garbage unveiled really hard. They only good to discriminate people they don't know. Nothing can be more imbecilic on this earth.

Posted by: Silvia Teresa Osorio at September 23, 2008 12:10 AM


The CIA and MI6 has been using vehicles like these for at least 12 years; but like anything else, the army needs to build it 10 years too late, 500% over budget, and operational at 60% its spec'd technical requirements.

Posted by: Mike S at September 19, 2008 11:40 AM


Awesome(if it works)for resupply and UCAV overwatch. You could imagine it to have a dropable central cargo containtner that could be then switched out quickly with a weapons fit.

Posted by: marc at September 18, 2008 11:46 PM


Maybe it's just me, but if you squint, it kind of looks like an RHIB w/ wings

Posted by: Maurice Spidinnii at September 18, 2008 04:38 PM


Is the military running out identifires. Isn't Excalibur a intelligent arty round from Picatinny

Posted by: vito colucci at September 18, 2008 08:41 AM


OB-1 and Yoda will be leading the charge, as they send the Clones into battle...in the not too distant future.

Posted by: Torch at September 18, 2008 07:56 AM


I'll give it a "hmm... interesting concept" for now. I'm asking the next medic I see whether a one-littler medevac would be worthwhile, though. I'm also intrigued by the idea of one of these dropping off ammo and water to a fireteam or something. Yes, interesting. But I'm not going to pretend I know enough about this stuff to make a valid observation.

Posted by: TrustButVerify at September 17, 2008 08:24 AM


Project Apps:
Search Rescue
Logistics
Fire survey
Relay
Gunship
MedEvac with Medic onboard to aid wounded.
Evac.
USCG Use.
Border Patrol.
Armed Escort.
Personnel
Carry 70 troops (fullsize models).
& the Commercial market:
700 for VTOL or VSTOL
from Burbank CA to Lake Arrowhead CA or
LA to Mammoth Ski Resort CA.
Denver to Aspen
Tokyo to Mt Fuji etc.
To remote mtn locales & by beaches, jungles etc.

Posted by: stephen russell at September 16, 2008 10:06 PM


Yeah, it would need to be able to carry more than one soldier to be an effective transport.

But, what if they put recon type robots on it and flew them into an area of operations? I mean, depending on how loud the thing is,you could put a few recon bots on them and have the plane insert them. Then the recon bots could scout out buildings, etc, before the ground troops even get there.

Posted by: Ptsfp at September 16, 2008 03:49 PM


have to say as far as carring me it sounds stupid but as an attack drone sounds awsome....hmmm navy should get some for there LCS

hmmm would be cool to be able to land them somewhere they could wait for a little bit and pop out and do there missions without giving away missions by coming in from long range

Posted by: Valcan at September 16, 2008 03:17 PM


Problem with MEDEVAC UAS is that you have to build it to manned aircraft standards (i.e. $$) and by law a MEDEVAC aircraft has to have a medical attendant. So... might as well have a pilot to deal with errant "O's and 1's" as well.

Posted by: Yasotay at September 16, 2008 12:26 PM


"This was great idea when WE thought of it one year ago."
Wasn't the idea of the optionally manned/unmanned AH-6X Little Bird the same thing? It could also be controlled from the cockpit of an AH-64 Apache Helicopter.

Posted by: Roy Smith at September 16, 2008 12:25 PM


I like it being used in cases as a MEDEVAC because in some situations it might be too risky for regular bird to come into the LZ and with no pilot or crew on this, it could get into a small LZ without risking an aircrew. As for dropping of Special Ops folks in...unless it can carry more than one, I'm not so sure on its usefulness. Yes Spec Ops folks can operate as a one-man force, but they work best as small teams and unless this guy is being brought in at night when there is less chance of getting shot down, it would be incredibly risky using this as a platform for Spec Ops insertions IMO.

Posted by: Ed at September 16, 2008 10:37 AM


Don't or won't they already have a VTOL Uav in the form of the FCS Class IV UAV, the Firescout?

By the way, Bryant since you're doing techscouting at the AFA, can you check to see if there's any new airship transport ideas? Something like LM's P-791?

Posted by: atacms at September 16, 2008 08:46 AM


Will we see something like VTOL Hunter Killers from Terminator in the near future? Looks like James Cameron is/was a damn visionary

Posted by: VileFather at September 16, 2008 08:30 AM


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