Britain's Ministry of Defence unveils unmanned Taranis combat aircraft
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 12th 2010 6:22PM
posted July 12th 2010 6:22PM
Well, it looks like Boeing's unmanned Phantom Ray stealth aircraft just got a bit of company courtesy of Britain's Ministry of Defence. It's now unveiled the BAE-built Taranis, which is not just an unmanned aircraft, but an unmanned combat aircraft that promises to be capable of penetrating enemy territory -- as opposed to something like a Predator drone that's only suitable for use if the airspace is under control. As you might expect, complete details on the aircraft are still being kept under wraps, but the MoD says there's "more than a million man hours" behind it, and that its first flight trials will begin early next year. And, no, "unmanned" doesn't mean autonomous -- the MoD is quick to point out that, "should such systems enter into service, they will at all times be under the control of highly trained military crews on the ground."
[Thanks, Rob]
[Thanks, Rob]
Welcome to Britain! The Arsenal of Freedom! We believe in peace--through superior firepower!
Somehow it sounded better when the pitch was made to Capt. Picard...
All hail Britannia.
Excuse me while i get my geass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqQ6Z-HmAqY
Thing is this is fully autonomous...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19162-warning-sounded-over-british-dogfighting-drone.html
That article talks about the plane potentially not being able to discriminate between friendly and hostile targets.
God save the Queen! This is a great landmark for Britain, and as it should be! This reminds me of that Stealth movie!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goPki_V34xA
P.S. Jessica Biel is HOT!!!
@Thor e
btw :Stealth is a poor copy of Yukikaze animation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAEzXm4uYeY
@magallanes Ahhh. Totemo omoshiroi desu!
Looks very cool. Gotta love Anime...
That looks pretty badass.
Would it have been as cool if Luke blew up the DeathStar from his Xbox?
Or,
If you need a pilot to bomb ppl, you blew it.
sic semper taranis!
Thank you, Engadget, for not tacking on yet another Skynet/robot apocalypse reference. That schtick was getting old quickly.
Let's hope the US never gets hold of this. Their tendency to shoot at anything they don't like or don't understand has cost too many lives already.
Somebody, please tell them not to sign a five year exclusive deal with AT&T for datalink services.....
That pic makes it look like it was unveiled at Stark Expo.
As long as their wireless system isn't being developed by the Apple engineers who did the phone 4's antenna system things will be alright.
"Sorry Flight Commander we've seem to have lost contact with Gryphon-23 even though we show full signal strength on our command terminal."
So is Will Smith the one who's gonna be remotely controlling these?
"the MoD is quick to point out that, "should such systems enter into service, they will at all times be under the control of highly trained military crews on the ground."
Right....that's what they want you to believe....
think how much it costs to train a fighter pilot
now think about the political damage if one of these fighter pilots is caught by the enemy
a remote-pilot plane gets around this problem as, for all intents and purposes the remote-pilot is playing a video game.
if the plane is damaged and crashes there is not political fall-out
i just hope plane has a good satellite uplink
skynet
Nice - but it does resemble a UFO and it does look like its grinning at us :)
So although it is unmanned, it isn't autonomous. Looks like someone saw Macross Plus.
As the computer, HAL, from A Space Odyssey would say, "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two."
Please stop supporting weapons of war. They are not "gadgets"
reminds me of that X-9 Ghost in Macross Plus
Did anyone notice the URL for this?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/britains-ministry-of-defence-unveils-unmanned-taranis-combat-ai/
Taranis Combat AI. Engadget has revealed the secret truth!
haha, The Brotherhood of NOD has created a new bashee.
Kane did it again...PEACE THRU POWER!!!