Message posted by Magoo on September 22, 2003 at 15:07:08 PST:
Cut and pasted from Aviation Week & Space Technology. Lockheed Martin's Minion UAV is being designed with an even stealthier radar cross section than the F/A-22 Raptor (return smaller than a marble) and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (smaller than a golf ball). The low-observable, 7,500-lb. unmanned aircraft will be physically small enough that one can be carried under each wing. The initial concept of operations is that a two-ship formation would launch and control four UAVs. Since F/A-22s have only one crewman, it's likely that one pilot would monitor the UAVs while the other maintained situational awareness of threats on the airborne battlefield. Nonetheless, the pilot workload is expected to be less than that required for an AIM-120 air-to-air missile launch. Since a stealth aircraft carrying two stealth UAVs has a larger radar cross section than the three flying separately, the idea is to launch the aircraft out of range of next-generation anti-aircraft missiles like the SA-20 or S-400 which are expected to have ranges up to 250 mi. Minion is to have a range of up to 1,000 naut. mi. so it can fly back to a forward operating base where it alights on its own retractable landing gear. Each UAV is to have a weapons bay large enough to carry four 220-lb., precision-guidance, small-diameter bombs, reconnaissance sensors, an electronic jammer or a high-power microwave weapon. Or the UAV can serve as a decoy. Weapon release or intelligence collection can be controlled by the launch aircraft. However, the launch aircraft needs to remain in line-of-sight to the unmanned aircraft for direct control. Minion will look a bit like the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) and use many of the same manufacturing techniques, but company officials say the cost goal is much less than the Jassm's $400,000 per copy price tag. Most reusable target drones are expected to complete an average of seven sorties each. Company planners say they are conducting research to estimate what the Minion's life span might be. For less demanding missions, there are concepts of operation for air launching the UAVs from bombers or transports.
Lockheed Martin Has Revealed a New Stealthy UAV
Aviation Week & Space Technology
09/22/2003, page 32
David A. Fulghum
Washington
The tightlipped crew at the Skunk Works has parted its veil of secrecy enough to show images of a stealthy, cruise missile-like unmanned aircraft that will go where even the F/A-22 won't so that it can grab intelligence or slam sensitive electronics with a small bomb or a destructive stream of microwave energy.
Skunk Works' latest entry into the stealthy unmanned aircraft field is the air-launched Minion for reconnaissance or strike.Credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN
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