Avenger, son of Reaper, son of Predator

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/23/predator_c_unveiled/print.html

General Atomics unwraps new, Stealth(y) robot war-jet

Avenger, son of Reaper, son of Predator

By Lewis Page

Posted in Science, 23rd April 2009 10:36 GMT

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), maker of the famous
Predator and Reaper unmanned warplanes, has taken the wraps off a new and
still more powerful kill-robot - the "Avenger". The company says that first
flights have been conducted successfully this month.

The Predator C ("Avenger") robot warplane. Credit: GA-ASI

Avenger. Well, it wasn't going to be called Serenity or something, was it?
For a full hi-res, click here
(http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/04/23/predator_c_avenger_full.jpg).

The Avenger, also known as Predator-C, has been developed with GA-ASI's own
money, as was the successful Reaper (Predator-B) before it. GA-ASI's
philosophy is to build what the company thinks the US military will actually
need for operations, rather than trying to build what the services say they
want.

bOur company has been uniquely successful in forecasting military needs and
delivering extremely capable unmanned aircraft that are ready for near-term
military use," says Thomas Cassidy Jr, GA-ASI president. "Just as the first
Predator B aircraft were developed and flown on IRAD [Internal Research and
Development] funding because we saw the need for this type of capability,
likewise, Avenger was developed through foresight and significant company
investment.b

This philosophy has stood GA-ASI in good stead during the last ten years: the
firm has managed to place a big force of unmanned warplanes with the US Air
Force, which left to itself would probably not have bothered. The original
Predator is now turning into an almost hands-off Army aircraft, the Sky
Warrior, set to operate without benefit of expensive pilots trained in manned
aircraft: the enlarged, turboprop-powered Predator-B (known as Reaper in the
USAF) carries a lot more weapons and flies much higher.

Now comes the Avenger, upgraded to jet propulsion and offering some Stealth
features. GA-ASI say that it is "more survivable in higher threat
environments" and say that it "will have higher operational and transit
speeds than current Predator-series aircraft, resulting in fast response and
rapid repositioning".

The firm promises 400-knot airspeeds and a 60,000-foot ceiling using the
Pratt & Whitney PW545B turbofan (the same used in the Cessna Citation XLS biz
jet). The Avenger can be flown using the same control stations as its
predecessors, and "can carry the same mix of weapons as Predator B" - that
is, laser-guided Hellfire missiles or Paveway/JDAM smartbombs. It will also
be suitable for carrying any of the various advanced sensors -
ground-sweeping radars, thermal imagers, multiplex Argus spyeyes
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/08/robot_whisper_copter_n_multiplex_sky_spy_eye/),
mobile-phone sniffers
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/28/reaper_gets_mobe_spy_gear/) etc. -
nowadays so popular for airborne surveillance. It's a biggish brute, 41 feet
long and with a 66-foot wingspan - comparable in size to an F-15 fighter
plane, but wide rather than long.

As can be seen in the pic above, supplied to the Reg by GA-ASI, the Avenger
has an arrester hook; it might one day operate from aircraft carriers as well
as runways. Avenger should be harder to see on radar or
infrared-search-and-track than its predecessors, with the engine hidden
between V tailfins (plus no propellor) and its weapons carried internally.
However, it isn't a full-blown Stealth design, as a look at the undercarriage
doors alone will confirm. The better "survivability" spoken of by GA-ASI
probably refers as much to the improved ceiling (60,000 feet is too high for
some anti-aircraft missiles
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/sa-15-specs.htm) the US
forces might encounter someday
(http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070207/60358702.html)) as to radar cross-section.

Under the new Obama Pentagon roadmap
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/07/gates_defence_budget_porkbarrel_hill/)
lately announced by Defence Secretary Gates, the unmanned-warplane fleet was
moved out of supplementary funding and into the core budget. It's now
official that robot planes are here to stay, rather than being a temporary
measure as some pilots might have hoped
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/22/flying_robots_r_toss_says_top_pilot/).
Meanwhile the CIA - the original user of armed Predators - is mounting a
serious, nominally-secret bombing campaign in the Pakistani borderlands using
its drone fleet.

It seems likely that GA-ASI are correct in thinking that the Avenger will
find a market, despite the fact that nobody in the Pentagon has got round to
asking for it yet.