Nouvelle version du PREDATOR (C) = L'AVENGER

[Rob1]

Je pense que les pilotes d'U-2 savaient faire la différence entre un Global Hawk et un truc furtif.

Il y a quelques années, il avait aussi été dit qu'un drone furtif était mis en oeuvre par l'USAF, y compris pendant la guerre d'Irak. Plus ou moins dérivé du RQ-3 DarkStar. Sans doute "la bête de Kandahar".

[collectionneur]

Concernant les drones de l'USAF en général, l'USAF se fait taper sur les doigts car elle démoli une grande partie de sa flotte dans des ''erreurs humaines''  =( :

http://electrosphere.blogspot.com/2009/05/drones-lus-air-force-crashe-plus-que.html

[BPCs]

US Air Force looks beyond the Reaper

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/07/us-air-force-looks-beyond-the.html

By

Stephen Trimble

on July 17, 2009 2:07 PM

The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc MQ-9 Reaper will rule the US Air Force fleet of medium-altitude unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) through the middle of the next decade. The USAF's newly-released UAS flight flight plan shows the Reaper's capability will steadily expand with the arrival of new payloads, such as the Gorgon Stare sensor in 2010. The USAF also revealed plans to test the Reaper next year as a replacement for the US Navy EA-6B, which is retired in FY12.

The Reaper will be augmented during the next decade with the MQ-X, which is pictured in the flight plan as a stealthy, jet-powered aircraft. It retains the surveillance and close air support mission of the MQ-9, and adds an electronic warfare mission. In many ways, this recalls the objectives of the joint unmanned combat air systems (J-UCAS), which was cancelled after 2005.

The MQ-X also opens the door to a very ambitious future. By the middle of this century, the USAF anticipates follow-on versions of this type to rule the skies. These aircraft will function as combination dogfighters, intelligence collectors, strikers and even tankers.

[collectionneur]

''Très ambitieux'', trop peut être ? On à déja vu nombre de programmes promettant monts et merveilles technologiques s'écraser en beauté ces vingts dernières années (A-12, Comanche, Crusader, etc...)

[Libanais_75]

Quelqu'un sait combien ils ont prévus d'en déployer + la capacité d'emport ?  =|

En tout cas, il a une belle gueule, je trouve.

[BPCs]

Predator C At Sea

August 17, 2009: Earlier this year, the new, jet powered "Predator C" took its first flight. Not to be confused with the MQ-1C Sky Warrior, the Predator C "Avenger" is a project that was started before Sky Warrior, and has taken much longer to get off the ground. The first flight was supposed to have been two years ago, but there were technical problems that kept coming up. Apparently it was worth the wait, as the U.S. Navy, Britain and Italy are all anxious to get a closer look at Avenger, and see how they can work it into their UAV plans. The navy is particularly interested in using Predator C to replace the soon-to-be-retired EA-6Bs in their most dangerous attack missions.

The Predator C is 41 feet long, and built to be stealthy. The V shaped tail and smooth lines of the swept wing aircraft will make it difficult to detect by radar. There is a humpbacked structure on top of the aircraft, for the engine air intake. There is apparently an internal bomb bay to hold about a ton of weapons, or additional fuel to provide another two hours of flying time (in addition to the standard 20 hours endurance). The 4,800 pound thrust engine are designed to minimize the heat signature that sensors can pick up.

All this should be no surprise. The Avenger manufacturer, General Atomics, has a division devoted to building stealth features into aircraft. This includes the world's largest indoor radar cross section testing facility. Despite the bomb bay, the Predator C is expected to be used primarily to carry a ground surveillance radar, which could be mounted on the bottom of the aircraft in an aerodynamically smooth enclosure.

The U.S. Navy has been interested in Predator C since the beginning of development. Thus the Predator C wings can be built to fold, for use on carriers, and have a tail hook, needed for carrier landings. The Predator C, unlike the larger Global Hawk, could operate from carriers. The Predator C uses landing gear from the F-5, an aircraft of the same weight class.

Predator C appears to be a larger, jet powered version of the five ton Predator B It was supposed to start flight tests by the end of 2006, but that was pushed into 2007, and then 2008. The Predator B costs about seven million dollars each, and the Predator C is expected to weigh twice as much, and cost three times as much. But that will still be about half the cost of a 13 ton Global Hawk.

The Predator C is expected to deliver about 85 percent of the performance of the Global Hawk, at about half the price. To compete with this, there is a "Global Hawk Lite" in development. The Predator C is designed to fly high (up to 60,000 feet) and cross oceans. Until recently, the Predator C didn't, officially, exist, and was a "black" (secret) program. No longer.

Most of the cost of these "strategic UAVs" is in the space satellite grade sensors. The MQ-4 Global Hawk, with minimal electronics, costs about $40 million. But you can easily add over $60 million worth of satellite grade gear to either a $20 million Predator C, or a $40 million Global Hawk. Thus Global Atomics is trying to come up with a lot of improved features (more reliable, easier to maintain, cheaper to run) for their Global Hawk competitor.

Avenger has other missions as well, one of them being shooting down ballistic missiles during the boost phase (initial launch, as it rockets straight up). The small, stealthy Avenger could prowl an area where the missile launchers are, then detect the heat of the take off, and launch a missile from its bomb bay, that would take the missile down.

The navy, and several air forces, are also looking at the Avenger as an ELINT (electronic intelligence) aircraft. The ability to carry a ton of sensors, and stay in the air for twenty hours per sortie, has a lot of appeal for an aircraft that is already stealthy, and doesn't carry a pilot. Moreover, the Avenger can perform ELINT missions entirely autonomously, making it more difficult to detect. General Atomics believes it can get the Predator C to operate (takeoff and land) from a carrier, before any of the other contenders (mainly the 19 ton X-47). The Predator C weighs less than half as much, and has an exemplary track record.

Britain and Italy are particularly keen on getting the Avenger because both these nations already operate Predators or Reapers, which use the same control gear as the Avenger. That, plus both nations are satisfied with General Atomics, and are confident in any new UAVs from the firm.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20090817.aspx

[BPCs]

Une vidéo Avenger Vs F22 :

http://zomobo.net/play.php?id=3jQUP_IVZks

http://zomobo.net/play.php?id=3jQUP_IVZks

[BPCs]

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2010/07/farn10-full-specs-on-predator.html

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has kindly distributed a data sheet on the Predator C Avenger, which is something I've been looking for since the concept was unveiled in April last year. The document confirms that the fuselage length has expanded by 3ft compared to the 41ft-long test aircraft.

Characteristics

Wing Span: 20.11m (66ft)

Length: 13.4m (44ft)

Powerplant: Pratt & Whitney PW545B

Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight: 7,257kg (16,000lb)

Fuel Capacity: 1,855kg (4,090lb) Internal; 2,722kg total

Weapons: Hellfire, GBU-12/49, GBU-31, GBU-32, GBU-38 JDAM, GBU-39, GBU-16/48

Payloads: EO/IR, Lynx SAR/GMTI, SIGINT/ESM, Communications relay

Performance

Max Altitude: 50,000ft

Max Endurance: 20h

Max Air Speed: 400KTAS

Standard Dash: 350KTAS

[MH]

Finalement l'Avenger ne va pas en Afghanistan, pour l'instant.

Un rapport avec la chute du RQ-170 ?

http://defensetech.org/2011/12/22/predator-c-not-going-to-afghanistan/

[MH]

Premier vol du deuxième prototype de l’Avenger, il est équipé d’un fuselage plus long (4 pieds = 1,22 mètres) pour augmenter ses capacités d’emports.

Un troisième appareil est attendu pour la fin de l’été et un quatrième pour 2013.

http://defense-update.com/20120207_avenger_predator_c_flight.html

[Chevalier Gilles]

je le trouve quand même bien moche, regarder l’empennage, on dirai deux bouts de tôle coupé en rectangle et enfoncé dedans

[clem200]

Vous commencez tous à devenir exigent sur le design des avions. ^-^ Ce ne sont pas des voitures.

[Asgard]

Ca coute quasiment rien de faire "joli" :D

(tant que ca n'impacte pas sur les perfs)

Y'a qu'a voir le Rafalou :)

[Chevalier Gilles]

Ca coute quasiment rien de faire "joli" :D

(tant que ca n'impacte pas sur les perfs)

Y'a qu'a voir le Rafalou :)

d'ailleurs:

"un bel avion est toujours un bon avion" Marcel Dassault

[seb24]

Il est pas élancé mais il a un ptit coté OVNI que j'aime bien.

[MH]

Belle vue du dessous où on peut voir la soute à bombe et le train.

 

[kalligator]

c'est vrai qu'il couterait dans les 50 mio de dollars ?

[Philippe Top-Force]

[MH]

L'Avenger ER effectue sont premier vol. Nouvelle aile plus grande et une tonne de kéro en plus pour une autonomie qui passe de 15 à 20 heures.

http://defense-update.com/20161111_avenger-er.html

[Philippe Top-Force]

 

[Rob1]

J'avais complètement raté ça, mais deux journalistes que je suis pas mal, Joe Trevithick et Tyler Rogoway, ont trouvé quelques phrases qui laissent entendre qu'une commande de jusqu'à sept General Atomics Avenger avait été passée par un client gouvernemental US classifié, et qu'un Avenger avait été utilisé au-dessus de la Syrie pour un largage de prospectus de propagande...

Citation

The Avenger’s history with the U.S. government didn’t end with MQ-X. As of 2017, General Atomics had confirmed the sale of the lone drone to the Air Force, but also the delivery of “up to seven” additional examples to an undisclosed U.S. government entity. The year before, the company also went on the record saying that someone had flown one of these unmanned aircraft over Syria to conduct a propaganda leaflet drop.  

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26791/pocket-force-of-stealthy-avenger-drones-may-have-made-returning-f-117s-to-service-unnecessary

[zx]

je suppose qu'ils utilisent les satellites américains lors des opérations des predator français

Modifié le 2 novembre 2019 par zx