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Boeing working on new large UAV
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| 03 July 2006 |
Boeing working on new large UAV
By Bill Sweetman IDR Aerospace and Technology Editor
Minneapolis
Boeing and a team of partners have been working for more than two years on a large, hydrogen-fuelled, high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to George Muellner, president of advanced systems for the company's Integrated Defense Systems unit.
"We are almost ready to build a full-scale prototype and could take a decision in the next six months," he said.
The major thrusts of the new programme have been to develop lightweight insulated liquid hydrogen (LH2) tankage - work that Boeing has been carrying out under contract to the US Air Force Research Laboratory - and an LH2-fuelled propulsion system.
The new UAV would have a 10-day endurance, which Muellner said will "gain the majority of benefits in fleet size". The 10-day endurance makes it possible to maintain non-stop coverage at a substantial range with two vehicles. It would be similar in size to Boeing's 61 m-span Condor UAV, built in the 1980s.
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