DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
THE US AIR Force’s latest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is small, stealthy and cheap enough to be essentially disposable. The Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft, or LCAA, could radically change the way the world’s leading air arm wages war.
The US Defense Department revealed the first LCAA prototype as part of the annual DoD Lab Day, an official event highlighting the work of various military research institutions. A photo accompanying a Lab Day handout depicts an angular, jet-powered drone with a silvery paint scheme that could have radar-absorbing qualities.
The Air Force wants the LCAA to have a Mach 0.9 top speed and a 1,500-mile mission radius with a 500lb payload in an internal bay.
The LCAA prototype, built by San Diego’s Kratos under a $41-million contract that the Air Force awarded in July 2016, bears a striking resemblance to Kratos’ XQ-222 drone concept.
Kratos pitched the 29ft-long XQ-222 as an ‘affordable alternative’ to traditional manned aircraft for strike, air-to-air and electronic attack missions. Notably, the XQ-222 can be launched via catapult, making it ‘runway-independent’, according to the company. The LCAA appears to share this catapult-launch capability.
