Simulated flight of Lockheed Martin X-56A
The Lockheed Martin X-56A[1] is a modular unmanned aerial vehicle designed to explore high altitude, long endurance (HALE) flight technologies for use in future military unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, as well as contributing knowledge to the future X-54 low-boom supersonic research programme, and future low emissions transport aircraft.
History [edit]
Designed by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs, known informally as the Skunk Works,[2] the aircraft was first revealed by Aviation Week,[3] and is intended to research active flutter suppression and gust-load alleviation technologies. The X-56A is based on Lockheed's earlier UAV work, showing influence from the Polecat, Sentinel and DarkStar UAVs. The programme calls for the construction of two 7.5 feet (2.3 m)-long fuselages and a wingspan of 27.5 ft,[4] with four sets of wings being constructed for flight testing.
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