The project, which is designed for 4 years, will cost 334 million dollars.
Leidos has signed a contract with the US Air Force to develop a large hypersonic drone for reconnaissance, surveillance and attack missions. The company announced this on its website leidos.com.
As Newatlas.com points out in its material, speed gives the military a huge advantage in power conflicts in the airspace. According to the media, the US military is making every effort to accelerate its weapons systems to hypersonic speeds of 5 times the speed of sound.
Today, hopes are placed on projects such as Mayhem UAV. As conceived by the developers, the drone will be able to perform combat missions previously assigned to the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. Journalists have suggested that the Mayhem drone may have something to do with Lockheed Martin’s SR-72 hypersonic manned aircraft, nicknamed the “son” of the SR-71 Blackbird in the media, because Mayhem could theoretically use a similar “combined loop”. “The propulsion system that enables a hypersonic ramjet engine (scramjet) to operate at takeoff and landing, at subsonic and even supersonic speeds.
According to the official press release, the Mayhem UAV will be equipped with a scramjet engine with speeds in excess of Mach 5 (6125 km/h).
“Leidos has been challenged to design and develop a broad-class version that outperforms existing air breathing systems in range and digital engineering to ensure that design efforts aid future development and transition.”
A team of scientists and engineers from Calspan, Draper, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions alongside Leidos experts will work on the project to produce a prototype. Leidos experts will develop software for Mayhem.
In response, journalists suggest that the new hypersonic drone will be launched using a rocket. This will make it possible to launch the scramjet so that the UAV can fly fast enough.
We wrote earlier that a hydrogen propulsion system has been created specifically for drones. You can stay in the sky for a long time by attaching it to the body.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.