The Nightwind 2 – A Supercharged Model Airplane (ahem… UAV)
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming a larger and larger part of the US Armed Forces, and for good reason. They carry out dangerous missions without putting servicemen and women in the line of fire. Instead, the are operated remotely from a safe location, much like a flight simulating video game.
As they become more and more prevalent, they continue to turn up in all sorts of shapes and sizes, catering to the many different needs of a military fighting a dangerous war. The large scale Predator UAVs are pretty well known for the operations they carry out, but the smaller portable UAVs don't have as wide a reputation. This is probably due to the fact that they look very much like the model airplanes you see children crashing into power lines at your local park while their parents look on in horror.
The Nightwind 2, however, could change that.
With a wingspan measuring 2 meters and an 88-cc engine (a go cart has about a 250-cc engine, for comparison), it is pretty small, but is capable of a lot. Using a specially-designed engine by a company called Ricardo (who created the gearbox for the drool-provoking Bugatti Veyron), it has a ceiling of 20,000 feet, is virtually silent to the human ear at just 1,000 feet, and can operate for hours on the same fuel that is used in tank, planes, and humvees. What's more, it costs $65,000, which is relatively affordable for the private sector.
With applications in surveillance, security, chemical attack, or disaster relief, it is safe to say that it must look very attractive to a lot of companies over a wide range of industries.
Source: Jalopnik
