Meet
Taranis, The Gigantic Robotic Jet
Named After
Celtic God Of Thunder That Can Hit
Targets On
Another Continent
Looming ominously like a space ship
from Star
Wars, this is the future of unmanned
flight.
Defence firm BAE Systems today
officially
unveiled its first ever high-tech
unmanned
stealth jet. The Taranis, named after
the
Celtic god of thunder, is about the
same size
as a Hawk jet and is equipped with
stealth
equipment and an 'autonomous'
artificial
intelligence system. The plane will
test the
possibility of developing the first
ever
autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat
Air
Vehicle (UCAV) that would ultimately
be
capable of precisely striking targets
at long
range, even in another continent. The
trial aircraft cost £143 million
pounds to
construct and spearheads BAE's drive
to
convince the Ministry of Defence to
invest in
the next generation of unmanned
aircraft.
Almost invisible to ground radar, it
is
designed to travel at high jet speeds
and
cover massive distances between
continents.
The plane is built to carry out
intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance on
enemy
territory using onboard sensors.