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n_kitson
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This, from the BBC. Link<br /><br />It probably should be in Free Space, but to avoid the political noise I'm posting it here where it will be truly appreciated.<br /><font color="yellow"><br />Covers come off UK spy plane <br />By Paul Rincon <br />BBC News science reporter <br /><br /><br /><br />Images of the UK's first prototype stealth surveillance aircraft have been unveiled. <br />The unmanned vehicle, which has been built by BAE Systems, is known as the Corax, or as the Raven. <br /><br />The Corax bears some resemblance to a cancelled US military spy plane called DarkStar, analysts have said. <br /><br />Jane's International Defence Review said the unmanned aircraft "indicated a new direction in combat vehicles for the UK's armed forces". <br /><br />Bill Sweetman, the magazine's aerospace and technology editor, said Corax could represent one member of a family of stealthy aircraft based around a similar central body but using different outer wings optimised for different missions. <br /><br />"If you look at that Corax shape, it's very reminiscent of something that's designed to fly fairly high, fairly slow and have quite a long endurance. It looks rather typical for a surveillance aircraft," he told the BBC News website. <br /><br />"But if you take those long outer wings off and put on shorter swept wings, you have a somewhat faster aircraft that would be more of a penetrating strike platform." <br /><br />Future plans <br /><br />The US and British armed forces believe these pilotless planes will play an increasingly vital role on 21st Century battlefields. <br /><br />The UK has reportedly scrapped plans for a future manned combat aircraft and is working closely with the US on "Project Churchill". <br /><br /><br />This is an effort focused on combining ideas about the command and control of unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) from 2015 onwards. <br />The Corax prototype has been built to investigate t</font>