Page 3 - AirForces Monthly - Issue 381 (December 2019)

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Out of the dark: Airbus stealth UAV testbed

A irbus has revealed a stealthy unmanned radar-absorbent materials, low radar-cross- of the vehicle displayed in Manching’s anechoic
testbed that has been secretly under
chamber was its cockpit transparency. Clearly,
section engine intakes, structural cooling
development in Germany since 2007.
Shown to reporters in Manching, Bavaria, technologies, flat exhaust nozzles and Airbus and the German defence ministry are
undisclosed surface coatings. An internal
also using the programme to investigate stealth
on November 5, the Low Observable UAV weapons bay points at a potential strike technologies for future manned aircraft, too.
Testbed (LOUT) is still classified but provides and/or defence-suppression mission. Moreover, it seems certain that technologies
a tantalising glimpse of stealth technologies If productionised, the four-tonne testbed tested in the programme will make their way into
intended for future air platforms. A German would be scaled up to provide a 20-tonne UAV, the Franco-German Future Combat Air System
government contract in 2010 paved the way its twin engines fed by diverterless intakes (FCAS) – a “complete system of combat aircraft
for ground-based tests beginning in 2014. mounted above the fuselage. It’s unclear if the and drones” to enter service by 2040. Before
Work on the very-low-observable demonstrator vehicle would employ conventional control then, Airbus officials have also hinted that LOUT
drone has been undertaken in Manching and surfaces, which were not visible on the model, may inform future upgrades for the Typhoon.
Bremen using what Airbus calls a “Skunk Works or if it would make use of an unorthodox active
approach” – a nod to the famous Lockheed flow control system. Airbus officials noted
special projects unit. It’s not the first stealthy that a full-scale UAV would incorporate a
programme to have been pursued in Germany steerable active electronically scanned array
– in the 1980s, MBB worked on the enigmatic carried conformally in the aircraft’s skin. Thomas Newdick
Lampyridae low-observable fighter, which bore While intended to serve as a ground testbed Email at:
a striking similarity to the F-117 Nighthawk. for future subsonic UAVs, one intriguing aspect edafm@keypublishing.com
The diamond-shaped LOUT vehicle has a
range of features to protect it across
the visual, acoustic, radar and
infrared spectrums, including

Right: The four-
tonne, sub-scale
LOUT model has a
wingspan of around 39ft (12m)
and has been used for aerodynamic
and anechoic chamber testing.
Airbus Defence and Space
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