Boeing Condor
| Boeing Condor | |
|---|---|
 Boeing Condor in the Hiller Aviation Museum, 2013 |
|
| Type: | UAV |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
October 9, 1988 |
The Boeing Condor is an unmanned reconnaissance drone that served as a flying laboratory for long-range reconnaissance. She has a wingspan of 200 feet (60.96 m), more than a Boeing B-52 or Boeing 747 . Driven by two 175 hp (130.5 kW), water-cooled, double-charged six-cylinder boxer engines Continental TSOL-300-2 , it reached a top speed of 230 mph (370 km / h) and could stay in the air for 80 hours without refueling.
The Boing Condor was originally developed for both military and commercial purposes, but it did not find any interested parties. Due to its sheer size, relatively slow speed, and lack of camouflage, it was unsuitable for military operations. The potential for use in weather monitoring and atmospheric research was there, but the system was too expensive for civil authorities.
The fuselage and wings of the Boeing Condor are largely made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic , which has a very low radar and heat signature. Even so, the Boeing Condor was not a stealth drone, and Boeing itself pointed out this deficiency. This characteristic, together with its size and low speed, made the Boeing Condor too vulnerable for military operations.
The Boeing Condor could take off autonomously, fly a mission and land. It was controlled by an on-board computer that communicated with the ground-based computers via satellite. So all facets of the missions could be controlled.
In 1989, the Boeing Condor set the world record for reciprocating engine-powered aircraft at 66,980 feet (20,416 m) and was the first aircraft to perform a flight completely automatically from take-off to landing.
During the test, the Boeing Condor recorded over 300 hours of mission flights over Moses Lake , Washington . The prototype is on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Mateo , California .
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | - |
| length | 16.59 m |
| span | 59.16 m |
| height | |
| Wing area | |
| Wing extension | |
| Empty mass | 3,600 kg |
| Total mass | 9,100 kg |
| Top speed | 370 km / h |
| Rate of climb | 10.2 m / s |
| Service ceiling | 20,500 m |
| Flight duration | 80 h |
| Engines | 2 × Continental TSOL-300-2 , each 130 kW |
Web links
- Condor unmanned aerial vehicle , Boeing
- The Condor , Hiller Aviation Museum
- Aviation trivia
Individual evidence
- ^ The Condor ( memento of July 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Hiller Aviation Museum
- ↑ https://www.boeing.com/history/products/condor-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page
- ↑ a b Boeing, Condor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( Memento from November 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )