Armed to the teeth with an array of powerful, destructive weapons, an incredible thinking drone may soon hit the skies to keep Marines safe.
The MUX will terrify enemies of the United States, and with good reason. The aircraft won’t be just big and powerful: it will also be ultra-smart. This could be a heavily armed drone that takes off, flies, avoids obstacles, adapts and lands by itself — all without a human piloting it.
AMAZING MILITARY ATVS ARMED WITH LASER WEAPONS WILL BLAST DRONES OUT OF THE SKY
If goals are met, the MUX will be a drone that can truly run vital missions all by itself. Sure, it can be an eye in the sky, but it could carry all the same weapons as the F-35B — a variant of the sophisticated fifth generation stealth fighter jet, the F-35.
.. The goal is for MUX to fit on a ship with a similar footprint to a UH-1Y Venom helicopter. When it is launched for a mission, it will be able to take off vertically, fly a radius of up to 700 nautical miles and carry 9,500 pounds.To expand the time in the air, the MUX will be able to be refueled in the air by another aircraft. In the air, it can reach heights of 30,000 feet.
Pentagon Makes New Push to Put a Laser Weapon on a Fighter Jet
Contract with Lockheed Martin comes as military leaders say they are ‘on the cusp’ of breakthrough
Lockheed in November secured a $26 million deal from the Pentagon to develop a laser for a supersonic F-15 jet capable of disabling a missile or drone from a mile or more away.. Air Force officials have said they want a laser weapon with an initial 50 kilowatts of power—some five times that of the largest industrial lasers—capable of destroying a target a mile or more away. The Pentagon hopes eventually to procure lasers with up to 100 or 150 kilowatts or power.Military leaders working with Lockheed rivals such as Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have spent a quarter century and an estimated $8 billion testing lasers and other directed-energy systems such as microwaves. None has ever been fielded or advanced to production... a cheaper alternative to missiles that can be fired multiple times.. Now, defense companies are focusing on fiber lasers first developed for the telecommunications industry that amplify and focus light from hundreds of strands into a single beam... They burn up a hostile projectile’s electronic systems rather than destroy it like a missile... The energy cost of $1 to $5 a shot compares with $100,000 to $200,000 for a defensive missile.
How the Pentagon is preparing for the coming drone wars
Instead of delivering packages, some have been configured to drop explosives. Instead of inspecting telecommunications towers, others train their cameras to monitor troops and pick targets. Instead of spraying crops, they could spread toxic gas, commanders worry.
.. Military strategists envision the day when they will be deployed in robot armies capable of swarming defenses in kamikaze raids.
.. the Pentagon is attacking what it sees as a potentially major threat, working to develop lasers and microwaves to blast drones from the sky... Some soldiers already carry specially outfitted “anti-drone” rifles that, instead of firing bullets, use pulses across radio frequencies that interfere with the vehicles’ controls... Or it could commandeer the vehicle and send it back to its operator, a technique that could help law enforcement authorities or soldiers locate the bad guys.
.. Prisons have seen the vehicles buzz over fences to smuggle in contraband.
.. Recently, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said he wanted every infantry squad to have its own quadcopter.
Unable to Buy U.S. Military Drones, Allies Place Orders With China
Several countries in the Mideast and Africa have deployed weapons in conflicts after buying from Beijing—at lower cost
Last October, satellite images captured the distinctive outlines of some powerful new weaponry at a Saudi runway used for military strikes in Yemen. Three Wing Loong drones had appeared, Chinese-made replicas of the U.S. Predator with a similar ability to stay aloft for hours carrying missiles and bombs... growing evidence that military drones exported by China have recently been deployed in conflicts in the Mideast and Africa by several countries, including U.S. allies that the U.S. blocked from buying American models... The U.S. has long refused to sell the most powerful U.S.-made drones to most countries, fearing they might fall into hostile hands, be used to suppress civil unrest or, in the Mideast, erode Israel’s military dominance... State companies are selling aircraft resembling General Atomics’s Predator and Reaper drones at a fraction of the cost to U.S. allies and partners, and to other buyers...Among the Pentagon’s concerns is that advanced drones could be used against American forces. In Syria, U.S. pilots have shot down two Iranian-made armed drones threatening members of the U.S.-led coalition... Chinese and Saudi officials agreed to jointly produce as many as 100 Rainbow drones in Saudi Arabia.. proved “on the battlefield,” hitting 300 targets in the previous year or so with Chinese laser-guided missiles... Beijing used to sell mainly low-tech arms to poorer countries; now it is marketing sophisticated items including stealth fighters, and targeting markets once dominated by Russia and the U.S... “China faces little competition for sale of such systems, as most countries that produce them are restricted in selling the technology” by international agreement.. The Pentagon estimates China could produce almost 42,000 aerial drones—sale value more than $10 billion—in the decade up to 2023... U.S. armed drones are still overwhelmingly considered the most capable, in part because the U.S. satellite infrastructure that controls them is superior. Israel has been the top military-drone exporter for years, according to SIPRI. But Israel has largely avoided selling them in its own Mideast neighborhood... A Wing Loong, meanwhile, costs about $1 million compared with about $5 million for its U.S.-made counterpart, the Predator, and about $15 million for a Reaper, whose Chinese competition is the CH-5... Chinese strike and surveillance drones have been used by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. in the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen... A North Korean drone that crashed in South Korea in 2014 was Chinese-made..The CH-5 can in fact operate for up to 40 hours, its manufacturer says—about 50% longer than its American competition.