Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology is the wave of the future for many things, not just military operations. We are using UAVs for border patrol, wildfire fighting, search and rescue and even atmospheric weather observation and scientific trend analysis. It is safe to say that UAVs will be around for a long time and the commercial applications are virtually unlimited. Recently we have had some problems with UAVs and their power plants. In fact there have been in-flight power failures and dead stick autonomous gliding to land. A Global Hawk, which had an engine quit did just that. http://www.shephard.co.uk/UVOnline/Default.aspx?Action=-187126550&ID=d78fb81e-a20f-4cfa-b53c-3edc109bc7e4 There have been some who have suggested that a parachute deploy itself to spare the taxpayers of the 3 million dollar loss of such a UAV, these chutes now exist for light aircraft. Another proposal being floated is an inflatable balloon with gas canisters which would deploy and allow the balloon to float for days away from the battlespace area of hostile fire to be recovered at a time and place of our choosing, as we may not always have the luxury of altitude, gliding distance, airports and adequate and safe terrain to bring the aircraft down. Think on this as others are as we speak. |
