aerial UAV control a/c - any daft ideas?

[Howard of Effingham]

i have been idly wondering in the last few days as to what a/c could be used as
an airborne UAV control a/c. could for example the USAF use a DC-135? or
would a DP-3 work for the USN, rather than use ground control stations often
very remote from the battlefield or to help supplement them.

really its an excuse for a large model over the winter,  as i am also
wondering what the RAF/FAA/RM would find useful in this role also. perhaps a
modified vulcan would do the trick. i am sure that some of the 1980's era drones
could be attached under the wings of one.... or is this cruelty to avros? 

suggestions please.

trevor

[who is also contemplating a HP80 drone controller too, btw!]

[GTX]

Why limit yourself:

DC-5B
DC-747 (well probably DCE-4B or something like that)
DCA380

Regards,

Greg

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Mornin' Trev

Depends upon whether you're looking to build a Controller/Launcher or simply a Controller. Controller/Launcher would need to be big, but relatively cheap to operate - I think the V-Bombers would be too 'complex' however if your time-frame was the mid to late eighties, I'd be thinking of opening one of those FROG/Revell Shackletons......  

A later time-frame would probably involve something from the 'civil' side - on lease from 'Targets are Us' or whatever that outfit who fly the Falcon 50's out of Hurn are calling themselves these days.

Ian

[Hobbes]

The Nimrod AEWs were scrapped.

If you want to air-launch the UAV, then depending on the size of the UAV you may need a high-winged aircraft. Maybe a BAe 146-300 with CFM-56 on the inboard pylon, and drones on the outboard pylons...

[Mossie]

There was one AEW.3 that was at RAF Finningley until it closed in 1993, used as an instructional airframe.  The cockpit section still exists, minus the radome.  I think it went to Warton for some time & now is at Solway Aviation Museum in Carlisle.  The rest of the arframe was rendered for spares & scrapped.
http://www.solway-aviation-museum.co.uk/Nimrod.htm

Trev, there was that Vulcan that was proposed to carry three nuked-up Gnats.  Turn those into unpiloted drones & you get rid of a lot of the problems associated with that concept.  Herc's could be possible drone control aircraft too, Belfasts earlier on?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Herc's could be possible drone control aircraft too, Belfasts earlier on?

Belfast Drone Carrier/Controller..... now that just has to be done ('C' Flight 100 Sqn, Llanbedr Detachment) ...... WOOKS we're looking at you !

Ian

[pyro-manic]

What about a B-52?

[Rafael]

What about a B-52?

Pyro might be right, even a B-1 wouldn't be stretching it too far, according to what I read in Dale Brown's novels......

or a DC-10 or BAC-111

Rafa

[pyro-manic]

For the RAF, what about a modified Canberra? Fuselage stretch behind the cockpit for a few drone operators, bomb bay full of fuel for extra-long range, tip tanks, etc. - even a couple of stand-off missiles uner the wings for attacking anything juicy the drones find?

[Mossie]

How about a B-1B?  There was mention in one of Dale Brown's novels (forget which) about a B-1 that could insert & recover small UCAV's that could be controlled from across the globe.

You could do a similar thing with a Backfire, or maybe an excuse to buy the Trumpy Blackjack??? 

[Mossie]

Other options on the same lines Trev, the XB-70 if you can find the AMT kit & feeling masochistic, or the A-Model Sukhoi T-4 if your feeling flush???

[B777LR]

Why limit yourself:

DC-5B
DC-747 (well probably DCE-4B or something like that)
DCA380

Regards,

Greg

Here ya go, the DC-5 and DC-A380

[upnorth]

How about a Victor?

If they had ground clearance for the drogue pods under the wingtips, then certainly UAVs could get slung under there, you could have a couple more in the weapons bay. You could use the old Matchbox Victor with minimal mods. Just remove all the IFR gear (save its own probe) and engineer a bomb bay of some sort back into her.

The ECM "carrots" are already in the kit and would look right at home on a drone control bird. Certainly there must be room in that big nose for some mission specialised gear too, no?

[Shasper]

You could do it with a modded Tonka, right now the Army's looking at using the Longbows as a control platform for some of their UAV projects, so it's feasible . . . to a degree.

Shas

[elmayerle]

Perhaps a two-seat DF-20B?  Or if you needed two UAV controllers, a three-seat F-20 utilizing a forward fuselage that crosses F-5B/T-38 and F-5F bits and has solely a weather radar in the nose (though i could see a RF-5A nose getting modified with modern sensors as a guidance supplement).