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Britain's Unmanned Taranis Aircraft Enables Remote Combat

by Caleb Johnson on July 14, 2010 at 06:30 AM

While the debate over using unmanned aircrafts in military combat continues, Britain's Ministry of Defence recently unveiled its latest unmanned aircraft prototype. Named after the Celtic god of thunder, and just as ready to bring it, the Taranis is a long-range strike plane that's designed to invade enemy airspace. According to the BBC News, the plane, which took more than 3 million man-hours to develop, will begin test flights early next year. Other than these scant details, the MoD is keeping quiet about the Taranis. We don't know what weapons it carries or how fast it goes, and it appears to be housed in some creepy, secret government facility.

But Peter Felstead, editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, told the BBC that he doesn't expect the Taranis to ever see real combat -- calling it a "tech demo." It's mind-boggling that the MoD would spend so much time (and probably money) on a project that will never see action. But apparently, that's the way of the future. Just ask Boeing, which recently built a super-sleek, V-shaped spy plane that could also be nothing more than a fancy (and expensive) demo. [From: BBC News, via: Engadget]

Tags: aircraft, combat, flight, military, MinistryOfDefence, research, taranis, top, transportation, uk, UnmannedAerialVehicle, UnmannedAircraft

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