It is 10 meters (33 feet) long, flat as a surfboard and packs enough ordnance to blow ground targets to pieces while flying high-risk missions forbidden to human pilots.
Its name is Sharc, a pilotless bomber aircraft designed by Sweden's Saab Aerospace, which unveiled the project Tuesday, the TT news agency reported.
Weighing just five tons without weapons, or up to 15 tons with, Sharc (standing for Swedish Highly Advanced Research Configuration) is just a model right now, but Saab Aerospace says a working prototype could be flying by 2005.
It will not be able to engage other aircrafts, and some bombing runs would be beyond its capabilities, but "for dangerous missions, in which the life of the pilot mustn’t be risked, it could be an alternative" to existing aircrafts, the head of the research project, Hans Berglund, told TT.
A joint project between Saab Aerospace, the Swedish Aeronautics Research Institute and Ericsson Saab Avionics, Sharc can be remotely guided into maneuvers that would be intolerable for human pilots, Saab Aerospace said.
It could also prove a lot cheaper than similar aircrafts already in the market, including Saab Aerospace's Jas-39 fighter/bomber.
"Our hypothesis is that the Sharc will cost 30 to 50 percent less than the Jas. But we won't have an exact figure ready for quite a while," Berglund said -- LINKOEPING, Sweden (AFP)
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