from Hacker News

Unmasking Northrop Grumman's XRQ-72A

by x43b on 4/1/20, 1:35 AM with 48 comments

• by Exmoor on 4/1/20, 3:45 AM

  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

• by tingletech on 4/1/20, 6:18 AM

  It looks like the flying wing! 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.

• by themodelplumber on 4/1/20, 2:57 AM

  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...

• by 01100011 on 4/1/20, 4:36 AM

  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?

• by saagarjha on 4/1/20, 3:08 AM

  > 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?

• by softgrow on 4/1/20, 4:40 AM

  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.

• by jmnicolas on 4/1/20, 2:03 PM

  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 ?