The Ronin
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The optionally manned Excalibur Mk.4 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle was rolled out over the weekend, marking the first time a tactical aircraft is equipped with a 1MW class hybrid laser, generating a paradigm shift in the stealth era.
With over 90% of the technology and materials coming from the EEA and having been developed exclusively with private funding, the Excalibur innovates on all fronts.
The high operational altitude, combined with supersonic speeds, manoeuvrability and operational stealth signature management allows this networked “system of systems” to enter denied and hostile airspace without being detected, and to engage any ballistic missile threats as well as their launchers. With 2 internal bays capable of carrying over 8,500 pounds of various loads of up to 5 meters in length, the aircraft is truly Omni-role and can meet a wide variety of needs.
A typical Excalibur Squadron consists of 8-12 autonomous UCAV aircraft, 2 optionally manned “mother ships” gathering, analysing and disseminating information which is being fed through the network, 4 regional Command and Control centres, a Central National Command and several “IPad” style encrypted terminals for strategic fleet management and tasking.
This layered approach creates a highly resilient C2 structure that cannot easily be intercepted or targeted. The network remains fully operational even in the unlikely event that over 50% of the individual nodes are destroyed.
Xcalibur Aerospace Ltd. has set a production target of 4 aircraft per month, before the end of 2019.
Further research is being carried out into advanced fields such as a sub orbital “point-to-point” capable aircraft, reaching any place in the world in less than an hour.
Airborne cyber tools with variable yield having the capacity to not only map networks but, if necessary, neutralise them in a variety of ways.
An R&D is being undertaken to give the Excalibur network a true “Cognitive Electronic Warfare” capability, enabling the system to detect, locate and classify any type of emitter and develop countermeasures in real time.
http://defence-blog.com/news/xcalib...nmanned-combat-aerial-vehicle-rolled-out.html
Damn!! Now this what you call something from Sci-Fi. USA you amazed me again.