Kill your terrorists, save ecology too

The Hindu , Sunday, July 18, 2010
Correspondent : Narayan Lakshman
Washington: Everyone knows that the U.S. government considers as top priority the two big Cs – climate change and counterterrorism. Well now there is a “killer” product on the market that brings both together such that President Obama must be salivating with anticipation — solar powered drones.

British firm QinetiQ on Friday announced that its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Zephyr, a leading solar powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft, has been “smashing a number of long-standing world records,” particularly for its record non-stop flight time of over seven days.

According to a statement by the UAV's producer, the drone is currently flying high above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, where the Zephyr has already passed the seven day (168 hour) mark. QinetiQ noted that this doubled the unofficial world record for longest duration unmanned flight of 82 hours, 37 minutes set in 2008 — also held by Zephyr — and was “well in excess of the current official world record of 30 hours 24 minutes set by Northrop Grumman's RQ-4A Global Hawk on 22 March 2001.”

Endurance flying of this sort, said the company, would be useful for an aircraft that was required to provide a low-cost, persistent surveillance capability over months rather than days. “Potential applications include earth observation and communications relay in support of a range of defence, security and commercial requirements,” QinetiQ said in a press release.The latest “green” model is around 50 per cent larger than the previous Zephyr, its producer said, and unlike conventional manned or unmanned aircraft now being operated, “Zephyr does not need to return to base at regular intervals for re-fuelling or servicing which also helps minimise the logistical supply chain and extend its operational capability.”

 
SOURCE : http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/18/stories/2010071854691600.htm
 


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