From: Ad 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/07/pilot_free_plane/

"The UK Ministry of Defence is to invest œ124m in developing a new
pilotless plane.

The contract for Project Taranis, named for the Celtic God of Thunder the
MoD says, has been awarded to a BAE Systems-led consortium, including firms
like Rolls Royce, Qinetiq and Smiths Aerospace.

The contract requires that the group produce at least one demonstration
plane, otherwise known as a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). It will be one
of the world's largest UAVs, coming in at a similar size to a Hawk jet, the
government says. That is about eight tonnes.

The autonomous plane will also integrate stealth technology and will be
tested for its potential to carry ground attack weapons.

As well as explaining how delighted he was to award the contract, and
mentioning that it was groundbreaking, and so on, defence minister Lord
Drayson said the project would "test cutting edge technology for a new
generation of equipment for our front line forces".

The demonstration plane should be ready for test flights "later this
decade", the MoD says. Test flights are provisionally scheduled to
take place in Woomera, Australia, where BAE Systems has a flight
range"

Add to that inflight refuelling via drone tanker aircraft &....



Adam

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