
Unmasking Northrop Grumman's XRQ-72A - x43b
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32807/exclusive-unmasking-northrop-grummans-xrq-72a-great-horned-owl-spy-drone
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Exmoor
I'm willing to bet the name "Great Horned Owl" was purposeful for a vehicle
where quiet is a priority. Owls have feathers which make them essentially
silent in flight.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_FEaFgJyfA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_FEaFgJyfA)

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londons_explore
An owl still emits more acoustic energy per kilo-mile than a passenger jet.

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hoseja
That's just a variant of the square-cube law. An owl the size of a passenger
jet wouldn't.

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nicoburns
Let's all just be thankful that there are no owls the size of passenger jets.

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Piskvorrr
That's, again, the same law. It would break under its own weight.

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tingletech
It looks like the flying wing!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49)

My grandpa worked on drones for Northrup from the late 60s to the late 80s,
and he loved the flying wing design (not used on his drone though). He built
op-amp based control systems, and flew jet drones with oscillators and large
portable field plotters.

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jacobush
Inspired by the captured WW2 German flying wing, no doubt.

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hackeraccount
The idea of a flying wing predates WWII.

[https://www.airforcemag.com/article/jack-northrop-and-the-
fl...](https://www.airforcemag.com/article/jack-northrop-and-the-flying-wing/)

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themodelplumber
Fascinating new (to me) stuff here...

"The resulting XRQ-72A has a general planform reminiscent of other Northrop
Grumman designs, including that of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber"

You mean "platform"? Nope! It really does have a similar planform, a word I
last heard in what, high school drafting/CAD? You mean "B-2" bomber? Nope, I
just hadn't heard about it...

Also interesting that it has no landing gear and uses a fuel generator to
power electric engines...

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redis_mlc
Planform is a syonum for shape, usually as viewed from above.

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01100011
I wonder about the radar profile of those ducted fans. Why stick them on a
stealthy airframe? Curious - what is the radar reflection of plastic? Is it
feasible to use modern plastics along with a hydraulic drive system? Would
avoiding metal(i.e. copper coils in electric motors, metal fan blades, etc)
keep the external fans from producing a radar reflection?

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bencollier49
I came here to say the same thing. Why would you bother going to the trouble
of designing a stealthy aircraft if you're going to plop a load of decidedly
unstealthy motors on the top of it. Really bizarre decision.

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bronson
What makes you think they’re unstealthy? I doubt there’s even a tiny bit of
metal in them. If they’re made out of Teflon, PVC, and exotic composites,
they’ll have barely any radar return.

They’re just propulsors. The motor is inside the airframe.

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saagarjha
> A pair of fuel-powered generators inside the central fuselage produce the
> electricity that powers four ducted fan propulsors mounted on top of the
> aircraft's flying-wing fuselage.

Is this efficient?

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liability
I think it's meant to have a low heat signature, so efficiency was probably
part of the consideration (less heat to shed).

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zipwitch
Reminds me of E.E. "Doc" Smith's diesel-powered stealth spaceship in _First
Lensmen_ (1950)

[https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithee-firstlensman/smithee-
fir...](https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithee-firstlensman/smithee-
firstlensman-00-h.html#chapter12)

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softgrow
I live near an airport. It would be nice if this quiet first approach was
taken on by passenger aviation. All I can see at the moment is gradual
improvement in noise performance being countered by increased traffic. A
stepwise improvement would be most welcome.

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llampx
I've wondered why catapult designs haven't been studied for airports, since
they're used frequently for launching fighter jets from aircraft carriers.

It would cut down on fuel consumption, emissions and noise when taking off.

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chrisseaton
Do catapults on aircraft carriers cut down noise and fuel consumption? No
because you still run the engines at max.

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wetmore
Ostensibly over a shorter period of time though.

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AdrianB1
Not at all, planes keep full afterburner until they reach a safe speed and
level (varies by aircraft) and most planes are refueled again after the take
off. The catapult just enables them to take off with serious costs for the
pilot, plane and energy.

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jmnicolas
I wonder what's the rationale behind releasing this information to the public
...

I understand when they release info about weapons, to let your enemies know
what you're capable of or to just sell the tech to foreign customers.

But this thing is a surveillance drone that probably will never be sold,
wouldn't it be better to keep it fully secret ?

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themodelplumber
It might be aimed at impressing and retaining investors, perhaps even with
some urgency. From Motley Fool, discussing defense companies including
Northrop Grumman:

"Assuming these companies avail themselves of the [USG's COVID-19] aid,
therefore, it could be a good long while before investors can expect to
receive any dividend income from them. That probably doesn't seem like such a
big deal to investors in Textron, which only has a 0.3% dividend yield. But
for shareholders in Northrop Grumman (with an 1.8% yield) or General Dynamics
(3.6% yield), it could be a much more significant factor in your decision to
buy or sell."

Also I do wonder just how secret this tech is. The shape has a stealthy look
but other than that?

Anyway just some thoughts.

