The American company Kratos showed a conceptual image of an unmanned sensor station (Off Board Sensing Station, OBSS), which it, together with the US Air Force research Laboratory, reports Breaking Defense. This is an inconspicuous drone with a swept wing and a V-shaped tail.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory's OBSS program involves the creation of a new type of cheap, but high-tech drone. The service life of this device will not exceed several years, and no repairs will be provided for it. It will be able to be an unmanned wingman for combat aircraft, will seek to accompany targets using radar and infrared sensors, and possibly carry weapons.
In October, Kratos and General Atomics received a contract for the creation and testing of at least one prototype of the OBSS. They must complete all the work by the end of next year.
Kratos already has several drones in development, cheap enough that they can be sacrificed if necessary. For example, the unmanned slave XQ-58A Valkyrie, UTAP-22 Mako, which tested a prototype of an artificial intelligence system for unmanned slaves, and tactical Air Wolf, created on the basis of an air target.
Kratos' OBSS will be a modular drone with a jet engine designed for airplane takeoff and landing. The device will be able to serve not only as an unmanned sensor station, but also as an external weapons compartment for manned aircraft.
The American company showed a conceptual image of OBSS. This is an inconspicuous drone with a swept wing, a V-shaped tail and an air intake from above. In part, the unmanned sensor station, especially its rear part, is similar to the XQ-58A Valkyrie. But it doesn't have a sickle-shaped wing, and the tail configuration is also different.
The US military is interested not only in cheap reusable drones, but also in expendable devices such as Cicada. Earlier we wrote how during the tests 103 Cicada united in a pack.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva
