Re: Nova UAV special


Message posted by lone wolf on July 22, 2003 at 23:32:23 PST:

Nova ran two specials of interest. One was the Battle of the X-planes, which documented the Lockmart vs Boeing battle for the JSF. That show ran for two hours. One of the requirements made on PBS was that the film had to be locked up on premises (Phantom Works or Skunk Works) each night until the winner was announced. After viewing the show, it looks like LockMart won for the right reasons. They had three advantages that I saw. One, the LockMart in-air refueling worked well. This allowed them to do more flight testing since they didn't need to keep landing to refuel the plane. LockMart used the USAF style refueling (boom engaging the plane), which Boeing used a Navy style refueling where the plane extended its own boom that needs to engage a dangling hose.

When it came to Harrier style operation, Boeing again had some weaknesses. The documentary goes into a problem common with these systems where the plane sucks in its own exhaust, causing a power loss. The LockMart system uses a combination of it's jet engine and a fan. The fan clears the area of the hot exhaust, eliminating the recirculation problem.

Lastly, there was a problem with the Boeing wing design. It's a bit difficult to explain, but the wing and tail in the prototype would have to be altered in the final design.

The second Nova special was Spies in the Sky. It covered the U2, SR-71, Predator, Global Hawk, Pioneer, some Israeli UAV, Dragon Eye, Micro Eye, UCAV, a series of duds, plus some UAVs that fly like bugs. John Pike was interviewed a number of times in this show. It wasn't always clear where the demonstrations took place, which I found annoying. Some were desert locations (perhaps China Lake), but other sites had grass.


In Reply to: Re: Nova UAV special posted by lone wolf on July 22, 2003 at 20:28:54 PST:

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