The arms race is moving along at supersonic speeds, as violence and war continue their historic rampage. Next venue, North Africa, where Britain plans to deploy what may be the world’s first supersonic plane - - ‘Taranis’, named after the Celtic god of thunder. British pilohyt Bob Fraser took the drone for a 15-minute first test flight at an undisclosed test range back in August, where it apparently performed much better than expected. It’s been hailed by BAE System as “the most advanced aircraft ever built by British engineers.” But, Britain isn’t standing alone. First unveiled as a concept model all the way back in 2006, the Chinese ‘Dark Sword’ drone may or may not be under development. Fact is, no one really knows. It’s all just speculation so far – some sources claim that the project has been scrapped due to a lack of funds, others say that development is ongoing – and then there is the Chinese internet hyping the drone up. Still, speculation surrounding the drone popped up for a good reason: Chinese TV channel CCTV hosted Chinese aviation expert Fu Qianshao, for a comment on the project. He stated that while he doesn’t know about the project’s official status, it would become the world’s first supersonic UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) He stated that the secrecy and lack of transparency around the project is just common procedure – as shown by Americans, who possess a military budget so high that they could singlehandedly take on the entire rest of the world’s military in conventional warfare and win several times over. Reminding of the conceptual model released back in 2006, Fu notes that even conceptual models can reveal more about a country’s drone technology and its research to aviation experts than what developers leak to the public. This, combined with the US Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft excites him, since it means China has reached a certain level of aviation technology in the world’s eye. - See more at: ift.tt/1ynJ8Uw DatSyn News - China And Britain Battle To Make Supersonic Drone
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 07:31:07 +0000
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