Armed Predator and Reaper drones have become the primary weapons in the fight against Pakistani militants. But they can be pricey; the Reapers come in at around a hundred million dollars each. Which is why the Air Force is working on a cheaper option: killer zombies.
Visit Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and you'll see rows upon of obsolete F-4 Phantom II aircraft – or at least their gutted carcasses. This is the Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center or AMARC -- whatever you do, don't call it the Boneyard. For many years, it has been common practice to resurrect these deceased planes as QF-4 unmanned drones, so that they can have a brief and undignified existence as "full-scale aerial targets." Everything in the inventory -- from Sidewinder missiles to Patriots -- have been tested on one at some point, even though some find it "kind of hard to shoot at such a magnificent aircraft."
Some 230 Phantoms have been through this resurrection process since 1995. It costs about $800,000 U.S. per aircraft. The tail and wingtips are painted orange to they can be easily distinguished from manned aircraft. Typically they are flown several times. Not all tests need to end in the plane being shot down, and there is an onboard scoring system to determine how close a warhead came. Up to six QF-4s can be flow together remotely by computer, maintaining tight formation using GPS. (Hey, how about a robotic version of the Blue Angels?)
But earlier this year, the zombie fleet got a new twist (see photo): one of them fired a modified High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile.
"This is the first air-to-ground missile fired off an unmanned full-scale aerial target," said Major Markle. "This test is an important part of the Det. 1 mission because it increases survivability of our Airmen going against (surface-to-air missile) threats. Furthermore, it's the first time the drone has been able to shoot back.
… "With this successful test, we have pioneered a new venue to test forward-firing ordnance without risk to valuable air assets or crew members," said Lt. Col. Joel Rush, Det. 1's commander.
The High Speed Anti-radiation Missile, or HARM, locks on to the radar guidance of surface-to-air missiles. The QF-4 mission was simply to test the missile. When you're working with a new experimental high-powered rocket motor, it makes sense to keep humans as far away as possible. (Aircraft missile testing is a hazardous business – some may be familiar with Pete Purvis' account of shooting himself down with a Sparrow missile.)
Could this become more than a mere experiment. Well, the idea of attacking enemy air defenses with a drone seems like a life-saver. Doing it with a QF-4 drone sounds like a money-saver, too. Those HARM missiles cost over $300,000 each. If you have four of them on a QF-4, the whole package comes out to $2 million or so. That's a small fraction of a Reaper's price tag.
So maybe the undead QF-4 should get its revenge on the living and get to fire some missiles itself for a change. Let's hear it for the new Phantom Menace…
[Republished from our Danger Room blog]
Hey,
I know this is off topic but I just saw in Guiness World Record 2009 I think(the green book) there is a world record for the smallest autopilot based on a microcontroler.
Can somebody write an article :)
OMG...the US government...is RECYCLING!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???? NO WAYYYYY
I love the idea. Seriously, but this means there will be less decom'ed jets on ebay. I would love to see some video of the flying performance that it has. Like, can it now outfly a manned F-4 now that there is no G force human constrictions. Could we be in the age where we do the same to F-22s and JSF for extra dangerous missions? Is the miliatry going to decide to come up with a disposable aircraft fleet of old UCAV planes? I mean, this opens up quite a few doors.
I guess the soldiers in iraq weren't the only ones surprised by having to pull another tour after their time was up. Okay, let me stop!
One of Lockheed Martin's UCAV solutions involve using F-16's by refitting them with larger wings which would provide for additional fuel giving an 8 hour loiter time over the area of interest, as well as allow for 6 or more air-to-surface weapons on the wing rails.
true it is a good money saver but at the same time it is a true statement of the decaying economy. I've also herd talk about converting passenger airliners to strategic bombers . on big problem with this whole idea of "junkyard wars " is that no one is making any more phantoms so there is a limited supply.
Comments
I know this is off topic but I just saw in Guiness World Record 2009 I think(the green book) there is a world record for the smallest autopilot based on a microcontroler.
Can somebody write an article :)
I love the idea. Seriously, but this means there will be less decom'ed jets on ebay. I would love to see some video of the flying performance that it has. Like, can it now outfly a manned F-4 now that there is no G force human constrictions. Could we be in the age where we do the same to F-22s and JSF for extra dangerous missions? Is the miliatry going to decide to come up with a disposable aircraft fleet of old UCAV planes? I mean, this opens up quite a few doors.
I guess the soldiers in iraq weren't the only ones surprised by having to pull another tour after their time was up. Okay, let me stop!