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This high quality, robust stealth drone is powered to your destination by a fast high altitude ops jet, low altitude ops turbo prop, or rotary gasoline power plant driven pusher style propeller in the rear, as you require(1). Upon arrival the drone switches to a front end located tractor style electric
propeller power for quiet military or surveillance operations in the target area.
(1) We can install the power plant(s) you need for speed, economy and\or silence. Mono power plant drones are also available.
Ask us about our soon to be available scramjet models that are launched from mother ship drones.
Edit 2013-02-20. The electric motor is geared so the prop tips do not exceed the speed of sound.
Dornier DO 335
https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Dornier_Do_335 Similar to design I have in mind must have stealth qualities built in as well [Sunstone, Feb 16 2013]
Can a twin engine aircraft fly with one engine out
https://www.google....al&client=firefox-a [Sunstone, Feb 16 2013]
Silent helicopters with rotor designs based on deadly, silent owl wings
https://www.google....e7&biw=1024&bih=548 [Sunstone, Feb 20 2013]
NASA's Ultra-Efficient, Super-Quiet, One-Man Electric Aircraft, et al
https://www.google....e7&biw=1024&bih=548 [Sunstone, Feb 20 2013]
[link]
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How does it cope with the combined weight of two
or three different powerplants, when only one is
used at a time? |
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In the drone category, no bun without a mention of bagpipes. Strict but fair. |
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Electric motors are heavy. So are batteries. So are drive
transfers. So are turbines and jet fuel. |
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Electric aircraft aren't exactly known for their payload
capacity. On the plus side, it should excell at vertical
descent. |
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//Electric motors are heavy. So are batteries. So are
drive transfers. So are turbines and jet fuel.// |
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Yes, but you can save a bunch of weight by leaving off
the wings. |
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Oh, sure, but then you'll need extra wheels to get the thing
airborne. |
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In a piston-engined airplane, most of the sound comes from the propeller, not from the engine exhaust. |
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Neither electric motors, batteries, nor jet engines
can be "radar transparent". The skin can be
constructed to produce a minimal radar return, but
that's the best you'll do. |
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And has been mentioned electric propeller driven
model airplanes are not particularly quiet, air
movement around the propeller makes noise. |
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Is this not a Dreamliner? |
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Silent but deadly? Hmmm... where have I heard that before... |
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You haven't. It's silent. |
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I was just remembering the time I bought an electric string-trimmer/weed-whacker. I took it out in the early morning cool, assuming that since it was electric, it would be silent. |
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The string tip whipped and cracked quite loudly. So did my wife. |
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Hold up, everyone, we've missed an important point of
ridicule here: nowhere in this idea has the 'deadly' aspect
of the drone been adressed. What gives, [Sunstoned]? |
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At an airshow I used to attend, there was a plane called Samson, that had propellor tips moving at over the speed of sound. It was hella loud. |
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The interesting part was when planes flew near the announcers booth. The sound system played what the sound was there, and we could hear a different sound where we were. The difference between engine and propellor sounds really stood out, for some reason. |
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Samson and some others were running radial engines, and listening to the differences between radials and inlines also helped make clear what was propellor sounds and what was engine. |
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A slow-turning prop would help a stealth craft, as is already known. Muffling piston engines is already a science, as is quieting jets and turboprops. |
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A slower prop is quieter, but since it's going to
have to be larger, the net effect on radar cross
section is not going to be good. |
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Oh, and [Sunstone] please link directly to the
article, not to a google search. The article about
the NASA craft is a popular science article and
does not provide any facts. It looks to be quite,
but I would bet not stealthy. Again, larger, slower
rotors don't equal a stealthy craft, even if they do
make a quiet one. |
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The stealth helicopter may be relevant, but
technical details are lacking. It's well known you
can reduce noise by reducing vortices, but how
much is critical. A helicopter that is quiet relative
to a major city may not do so well out in the rural
countryside. |
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It doesn't. Those Bell 'Executive SuperSlipstream Mark VI
etc.' choppers that the truly overpriveleged fly out to the
ski resort's airfield make an incredible racket going up the
valley. It's the sound of money, however, and around here
we're always ready to forgive a minor annoyance if it's
paired with major disposable income. |
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Hello MechE: Thank you for the comment. I connect to a Google search so that, over time, when a single link that I would connect to would go dead, there are other like links to connect to instead. Dead links are most aggravating as I found out in my now baked "Safe Halloween Coupon Handouts" submission. I can no longer select the "cached" feature on Google to see the cached version of the article. Internet Archives does not always pull up the deleted article. |
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[Sunstone], Google started doing silent "search
personalization" fairly recently. The Google search
that you see when you click that link is not the
same as the Google search I see when I click it,
which is in turn different from what [MechE] sees
when he clicks it. |
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Google search links are effectively worse than
useless for archival purposes. Just post a link, or if
you absolutely MUST perform some method of
long-term archival, just post what the plane is
called and let others Google it later. |
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Propellers aren't conducive to stealth; it would be
easier and more cost-effective to make a quiet
turbofan engine inside a stealthy airframe. |
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The noise problem could be addressed by simply
flying it an a higher altitude, and using more accurate
targeting systems for weapons and more precise long
lenses for surveillance cameras. |
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Also the tractor position for the propeller is non-ideal
as this forces the cameras and sensors to look through
the props for forward visuals, though I guess you could
mount the cameras on the wing tips. I'd say for the
weight, I'd dump the electric batteries and motors in
favor of a lighter more limited option such as
flywheels or as mentioned, potential energy storage.
If internal combustion normally propels the drone,
then some switch to compressed gas for final
approach seems feasible. |
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