In what war is this system going to be used? Are there lots of power lines in Afghanistan or Yemen? Must be a bunch in Africa and the Philippines. This has got to be one of the best boodogles to date. UAVs are an important adjunct to our warfighting capability, but spending money to help a few guys pursue their hobby is ridiculous. These experimental models cost $100,000 each? The picture accompanying the article shows a rather primitive, sensor laden model airplane. The individual who approved this project should be fired.
Keep in mind, one thing leads to another. I saw lot of weird ideas, and off the shelf items used and made to fit “Intel Use” in my 22 yrs. DREAM a LITTLE
Still, $100,000 is exxxxtreme! It must include a working vacation to test these things. Just another example of th expensive hammers and ash trays that the VA bought awhile back.
Remember what the first computor cost when they wer coming out of prototype! I've never seen a coke can on a power line. However, birds are a plenty AND they actually fly. 328RR
There seems to be a bit of negativity in this discussion. Research is a good thing and in a time where terror is the enemy's primary tool, urban areas is where it takes place. UAVs are very effective and making them more so makes sense to me. Considering the state of the art components that are used, the skills necessary to design and assemble, and the fact they are building prototypes which don't benefit from mass production -- $100,000 doesn't sound so bad to me.
A latch mechanism should not be too difficult to design and produce. They were able to fly full size biplane fighters onto and off airships in the 30's using a trapeeze device. Making one to do the same with small uav/model airplanes and powerlines shouldn't be hard for another $100,000.
I think the main thing is to have a means of tapping into the flux caused by power transmission. They have been able to do such feats with a wireless rf transmission system. Making it look like a light bulb and such.
Originally posted by 11894264: In what war is this system going to be used? Are there lots of power lines in Afghanistan or Yemen? Must be a bunch in Africa and the Philippines. This has got to be one of the best boodogles to date. UAVs are an important adjunct to our warfighting capability, but spending money to help a few guys pursue their hobby is ridiculous. These experimental models cost $100,000 each? The picture accompanying the article shows a rather primitive, sensor laden model airplane. The individual who approved this project should be fired.
I disagree. This sounds like a great idea, and a money-saver, too (something the government is not normally good at).
Originally posted by toconnor: Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the first targets in a battle infrastructure? No power plant, no power.
Depends on the war. We did NOT destroy Iraq's power grid this time around.
This idea is fantastic. It gives you unlimited activity time. You can fly a UAV out over the city, use up its power, land on a nearby power line to recharge, take off again, etc. These things can stay operational as long as you need them.
Hell, they don't even need to keep flying around. You can park them on a power line in a trouble spot and leave them there. They could wait at critical locations for days or even weeks, with cameras and other sensors going full-bore the whole time. Imagine if we'd sent these into Fallujah a week or so before we attacked. We'd have been able to watch enemy movements with dozens of silent sentries.
