Academy eyes cadets’ design for new UAV

Mike Clark

110711af_lede1_uav_800 — Cadet 1st Class Justin Merrick from the Air Force Academy's Cadet Squadron 20 shows the small remotely piloted aircraft developed in the aerospace lab. Bill Evans/Air Force

The Air Force Times reports

By Jill Laster – Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 2, 2012 9:08:59 EST

A small drone designed by a group of Air Force Academy cadets could become the Air Force’s newest unmanned aerial vehicle.

Its mission: become a target for F-22s and F-35s to shoot down during training.

The Air Force is considering the small unmanned aircraft along with another one by a contractor.

More than 50 groups of cadets submitted potential designs for the new drone as part of a “capstone course” in 2008, during their final year at the academy.

The academy — along with partners at the Air Force Research Laboratory, the service’s Aeronautical Systems Center and the contractor Sierra Technical Services — has been researching since 2003 what sort of drone the service could use to practice shootdowns.

The Air Force now uses F-4s that have been modified as drones — QF-4s — for that training. F-16s, modified as drones and renamed QF-16s, are scheduled to replace them soon, but using modified fighters could pose a disadvantage.

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