Vulture
Abstract
The objective of the Vulture program is to demonstrate the required technology to enable an airborne payload to remain persistently on-station, uninterrupted and unreplenished, for over five years performing strategic and tactical communications, position/navigation/timing (PNT) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions over an area of interest. Vulture technology enables a re-taskable, persistent pseudo-satellite capability, in a notional aircraft package. The technology challenges include structural integrity of very lightly-loaded airframe structure, efficient and reliable energy collection, storage/retrieval and management, and reliability technologies capable of allowing the aircraft to operate continuously for five years. The remaining Vulture program will conduct subscale demonstration activities to prove out critical technologies. The anticipated transition partners are the Air Force and Navy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2014
- Source ID
- ee8e9338dcf39b9615c78fbe2698e791