The application for this technology wouldn't be in a large extended endurance craft like the Global Hawk, but in smaller more portable craft. Look at the size of that RC plane the researcher is working on. Since these fuel cells are so light (17oz of hydrogen versus many gallons of jet fuel), it would make it easy to design small, lightweight UAVs that could be deployed with the troops instead of being run from airbases far away.
And if you do need 24/7 coverage, you could aways have multiple planes and run them in shifts...
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The application for this technology wouldn't be in a large extended endurance craft like the Global Hawk, but in smaller more portable craft. Look at the size of that RC plane the researcher is working on. Since these fuel cells are so light (17oz of hydrogen versus many gallons of jet fuel), it would make it easy to design small, lightweight UAVs that could be deployed with the troops instead of being run from airbases far away.
And if you do need 24/7 coverage, you could aways have multiple planes and run them in shifts...