Taranis drone: Britain's $336m supersonic unmanned aircraft launched over Woomera

Updated

The first vision of a state-of-the-art drone touted as the future of British warfare has been released, showing it soaring over what is thought to be Woomera in remote South Australia.

Factbox: The Taranis UCAV

The Taranis drone is a joint project between UK defence and BAE Systems.

The test drone cost 185 million pounds ($336.5 million).

It is designed to carry a payload of guided bombs and missiles, travel at supersonic speeds, and fly undetected by radar.

The UK military says the Taranis will be operable via satellite from anywhere in the world.

The first test flight is being hailed as a "major landmark for UK aviation".

The vision shows the Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, making a take-off and conducting a number of manoeuvres over red desert during its first test flight.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) will not confirm where the footage was shot, but revealed in a submission to a UK parliamentary hearing last year that the Taranis Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator had conducted initial test flights - shortly after ABC sources confirmed that the prototype had been shipped to the Woomera test range.

The MoD is hailing the test flight, which it now confirms occurred in August last year, as an overwhelming success.

"The demonstrator aircraft made a perfect take-off, rotation, 'climb-out' and landing on its 15-minute first flight," it said in a statement.

"A number of flights took place last year, of up to one hour in duration and at a variety of altitudes and speeds.

"The findings from the aircraft's flights prove that the UK has developed a significant lead in understanding unmanned aircraft, which can strike with precision over a long range whilst remaining undetected."

Deadly aircraft on the forefront of modern warfare

The MoD, which has been developing the Taranis along with BAE Systems, describes the unmanned drone as the "most advanced aircraft ever built by British engineers".

The supersonic aircraft is designed to carry a weapons payload of guided missiles and bombs.

The British military claims it will be able to operate the Taranis via satellite link from any location in the world, and, like US B-2 stealth bombers, it will be able to fly undetected by radar.

Given the high degree of secrecy that still surrounds much of the Taranis project, these claims remain untested.

It truly represents an evolution of everything that has come before it. This milestone confirms the UK's leading position as a centre for engineering excellence and innovation. Simon Whitehead, BAE Systems

At a cost of 185 million pounds ($336.5 million), the aircraft was first unveiled at a Hollywood-style ceremony in July 2010, with Taranis resembling a Star Wars prop amid theatrical lighting and dry ice.

The Taranis launch was widely interpreted as an ambitious claim by the UK for a greater stake in the lucrative military drone market dominated by the US and Israel.

The defence ministry says the demonstrator aircraft is the culmination of 1.5 million man-hours of work by scientists, aerodynamicists and systems engineers from 250 British companies.

However, despite the huge amount of input, MoD says only a "select number of people" have been given full access to the drone.

Ground testing had been ongoing, including a number of high-speed taxi tests, before the Taranis was ready to make its maiden flight last August.

BAE Systems managing director Simon Whitehead says the Taranis's first test flight is a "major landmark for UK aviation".

"The demonstrator is the most advanced air system ever conceived, designed and built in the UK," he said in a statement.

"It truly represents an evolution of everything that has come before it. This milestone confirms the UK's leading position as a centre for engineering excellence and innovation."

Test flights take place at 'Australia's Area 51'

The MoD confirmed in October last year that test flights had begun, but exactly where they were taking place and just how successful they were remained top secret.

It is no surprise that the British chose the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) to test the state-of-the-art war machine.

Far from prying eyes and measuring 127,000 square kilometres, the Woomera facility, dubbed Australia's Area 51, is - according to the Australian Defence Department - the largest weapons and aircraft testing range in the world.

The United Kingdom has a long association with Woomera, having conducted nuclear weapons tests there from 1956-63, along with the development of military rockets and various space projects.

In 2009 another MoD-BAE Systems unmanned aircraft - the Mantis - made its first test flight in Woomera.

Flight commander discusses successful test run

The commander of the test flight, Briton Bob Fraser, has described it as a "bizarre" experience that was both exhilarating and "almost boring".

Mr Fraser, who was in charge of a team of 10 people for the flight, said it was similar to his previous experience leading crews on large aircraft.

"We had rehearsed this flight so many times [that] there was an element of routineness about it," he said.

"Having said that I was amazed that it had flown for 15 minutes because I don't believe I breathed throughout that time.

"It's probably one of the most exciting things I've ever done.

"It's a combination of both being very routine - almost boring - and also incredibly exciting. It's a difficult thing to articulate."

Topics: science-and-technology, defence-and-national-security, air-force, defence-forces, united-kingdom, woomera-5720, sa, australia

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