Britain's New Stealth Bomber Is Unmanned And Fully Autonomous

http://www.businessinsider.com/britain-new-supersonic-drone-uav-taranis-will-replace-bomber-fleet-2013-1



Britain's Royal Air Force has been using Tornado bombers for decades and is already building a fleet of new manned bombers, but BAE hopes to supplement those forces with a powerful new drone.

The Taranis, named for the Celtic god of thunder will fly faster than the speed of sound and beyond the eye of enemy radar with its single-wing stealth design, and UK officials hope to see it replace piloted planes and current unmanned drones alike.

It's a tall order, but the Taranis already has some nifty technology built into it. In the event the Taranis is spotted and efforts to bring the drone down begun, it can self-evade without input from a controller.

It can also independently identify targets and would only check back with a human controller before initiating an attack. At about $200 million the Taranis prototype isn't cheap, but the RAF believes it's a good investment.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/britain-new-supersonic-drone-uav-taranis-will-replace-bomber-fleet-2013-1#ixzz2HrdsfDvY