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Interesting article in this week's Flight International (21-27 Nov.)
concerning a submarine-launched and -recovered Unmanned Air Vehicle
(UAV) known as the Cormorant. Lockheed-Martin are working with DARPA
to develop this neat little gadget, intended to be launched from an
Ohio-class boomer's ICBM tube. The artist's impression of a launch
that accompanies the article is just so Sky 1-like that it sent a
shiver down my spine. Not only that, but the intended role for the
Cormorant is close air support for surface ships and submarines --
and ground forces (Mobiles), perhaps? <g>
As fond as I am of Skydiver, there's a school of thought that says
that the current generation of manned combat aircraft may well be the
last due to the increasing capabilities of UAVs, and I have written
before that it would have made more sense for Sky 1 to have been
launched like an ICBM, so the thought of a second generation of SHADO
submarines lurking underwater waiting for UFOs with more than just
one interceptor ready for launch -- and interceptors not restricted
by the physical limits of frail humans, at that -- really fires my
imagination. Of course, there is the problem of comms jamming, which
we know the aliens are good at, but there are ways and means around
that... which leads to an even hotter "welcome" waiting for the UFOs.
Phil
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Locked
