CleanBeta

DARPA Develops First Green Killer — The Vulture Drone

The Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) announced plans to build an unmanned aircraft capable of flying uninterrupted within a designated airspace for at least five years. The unmanned aircraft will be armed with a 1,000-pound payload. The press release issued earlier today describes in these terms:

“The Vulture program envisions a system carrying a 1,000-pound payload drawing five kilowatts of power that is able to stay airborne for an uninterrupted period of at least five years while remaining in the required mission airspace 99 percent of the time.”

The Vulture will likely replace the vastly inferior Predator Drones (MQ-1 PREDATOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE) that have flown over hot-spots like Afghanistan for years. The Predator Drone has the following features:

• Power Plant: Rotax 914F four cylinder engine
• Thrust: 115 horsepowerWingspan: 48.7 feet (14.8 meters)
• Maximum Takeoff weight: 2,250 pounds (1,020 kilograms)
• Fuel Capacity: 665 pounds (100 gallons)
• Payload: 450 pounds (204 kilograms)
• Speed: Cruise speed around 84 mph (70 knots), up to 135 mph
• Range: up to 400 nautical miles (454 miles)
• Armament: two laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles

Needless to say, 100 gallons of fuel won’t keep an aircraft up in the air for five years, which emphasizes the key innovation making the Vulture technologically feasible — advanced solar-powered fuel cells. The Vulture will fly for five years without refueling once by storing sunlight during the day in fuel-cells powerful enough to fly an aircraft through at least one night. The press release gives the following answer, which also reveals how large of a contribution the United States military has made to the advancement of clean technology.

“The Vulture program will focus on developing innovative technologies and approaches for in-flight energy collection or refueling and ultra-reliable systems or systems able to be repaired in-flight. Other new technologies that will be developed and that are key to the ability of the Vulture system to provide the desired mission reliability include multi-junction photovoltaic cells, high specific energy fuel cells, extremely efficient propulsion systems, in-flight precision autonomous materiel transfer and docking, extremely efficient vehicle structural design, mitigation of environmentally induced loads, and innovative vehicle control concepts. The Vulture program is not developing payloads, but is focused on development of the airborne system able to provide the objective mission reliability. A system able to remain on station for five years could have utility in a variety of missions such as communications relay, surveillance and reconnaissance, and signals intelligence.”

Coincidentally, Boeing recently announced that it had successfully tested the first hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft. To appreciate the difference between Boeing’s feat and DARPA’s Vulture, watch this video:

Boeing’s project and DARPA’s Vulture are farther apart than lightning bugs and lightning bolts. Alternative energy is rapidly losing its “alternative” status and the Department of Defense is one of the main forces to thank for expediting the divorce. Here’s the full release — DARPA’s Vulture Program.