Project Mosquito / Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

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The Armchair Soldier
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Project Mosquito / Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by The Armchair Soldier »

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(interactive render provided in the link below)
The Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept looks to offer increased capability, protection, survivability and information when deployed alongside combat aircraft. It could even provide an unmanned combat air ‘fleet’ in the future.

The innovative concept also aims to deliver dramatic reductions in traditional cost and development timelines for combat air systems.
Source: https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/team-tempest/lanca/

serge750
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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by serge750 »

If these are going to be carrier - capable, I think they would be good to fill the decks of a QEC, even if they could be used for a extended hours long range combat air patrol / surveillance, also maybe deep first day strike? :thumbup:

wonder what would be in service first, these or a project tempest derived airplane?

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by bobp »

serge750 wrote:wonder what would be in service first, these or a project tempest derived airplane?
Well we know Bae are actively involved in the Australian Project, and that Boeing are sharing data with the UK. Also Bae has had some years of UAV development with Taranis, Manta plus others. So we can safely say that the Australian effort will get airborne soon. So my guess is that Project LANCA will get underway soon. The six million dollar question is will it be carrier capable?

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by SW1 »

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news ... oves-ahead

In July 2019, the Dstl announced that Phase 1 contracts had been awarded to three teams, led by Blue Bear Systems Research, Boeing Defence UK, and Callen-Lenz. The latter is part of Team Blackdawn, which brings in the expertise of Northrop Grumman and Bombardier Aerospace’s UK division headquartered in Belfast.

Dstl and its partner agency, the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), expect to make a down-select to one or two teams imminently.

All of the projects seek to create a transonic, networked vehicle that makes heavy use of artificial intelligence so that it can make its own decisions within the wider framework of a planned mission and even fly some missions autonomously if desired. Vehicles can be used to augment the manned aircraft in terms of weapons or be used for reconnaissance and defense suppression tasks. The use of multiple air vehicles in coordinated swarms can saturate defenses.

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

I had to laugh when I saw the name of this program. Anyone remember the name of the program that preceded the Joint Strike Fighter that gave birth to the F-35?

CALF

As in Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter.

And how did that turn out?

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Jensy
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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Jensy »

Ron5 wrote:Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter.

And how did that turn out?
1/4 aint bad... (Barely a 'fighter' though)

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by dmereifield »

Jensy wrote:
Ron5 wrote:Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter.

And how did that turn out?
1/4 aint bad... (Barely a 'fighter' though)
Meatloaf would beg to differ

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by shark bait »

serge750 wrote:If these are going to be carrier - capable
It'll be interesting to see how they manage this. Judging by similar aircraft it will have to be rocket launched and recovered after a parachute splashdown in the sea. I guess that must make them single use unless they start plucking them out of the sky with a helicopter like Rocket Lab are trying.
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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by serge750 »

Maybe they will get the old EMCAT out the box? with a crash barrier like the old carriers used to use in a emergency.

would it be harder to make this little bid STOVL like the F35 principle with a lift fan/jet combo?

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Timmymagic »

serge750 wrote:with a crash barrier like the old carriers used to use in a emergency.
Modern crash barriers are attached to the arrestor gear, so thats not really possible for anything with speed or weight.

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by SW1 »

And yet space x can get a space rocket to land on a small floating pad and we have quite a large one by comparison.

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by SKB »

Winged Advanced Next Combat Aircraft name rejected then?! :mrgreen:

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Jensy »

serge750 wrote:Maybe they will get the old EMCAT out the box? with a crash barrier like the old carriers used to use in a emergency.

would it be harder to make this little bid STOVL like the F35 principle with a lift fan/jet combo?
Hmmm, seems to me that there's only one elegant solution to a problem like this:

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An ideal use for that leftover space from the fourth CIWS... :P

Considering the Royal Navy has also previously considered bouncy rubber decks and giant fans as carrier landing solutions, trying to land a sub-10tonne aircraft on a 65,000 carrier should not be beyond the imagination, skills or budgets of our defence sector.

There's also all that VAAC research that QinetiQ did, which surely has applications beyond F-35?

Right, better stop before I start suggesting a Loyal Wingman UCAV based around a modernised Pegasus engine.

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shark bait
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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by shark bait »

I can't landing on the deck happening. The recovery hardware required for that will make the cost skyrocket.

The cheap options are below, a mid air recovery like Rocket Lab, or soft ocean landing followed by a fishing trip like Kratos.

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

Yep, that'll work well in the North Atlantic.

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by bobp »

Engine run turn up your sound...


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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

bobp wrote:Engine run turn up your sound...
"Britain joins Aussie Loyal Wingman program" I can see it now on page 1 of the defense review thingie :D :D :D

And a year later "Loyal Wingman conducts first take off from Prince of Wales. Young nipper at the control panel" :D :D :D :D

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

New image of Boeing's Loyal Wingman. Makes my heart throb :oops:

Image

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by bobp »

Ron5 wrote:New image of Boeing's Loyal Wingman. Makes my heart throb
Unusual for a heart beat not to rise now and then. Nice picture !!

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

From Flight ..
Attritable loyal wingman unmanned air vehicles (UAV) might be best used as nonlethal “force multipliers” for the US Air Force’s (USAF) fleet of manned aircraft says a report by think tank Mitchell Institute.

These low-cost unmanned aircraft can’t supplant the capabilities of sophisticated combat aircraft, says Mark Gunzinger, director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute. He co-authored the “Understanding the Promise of Skyborg and Low-Cost Attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” report.

“They will not replace [the USAF’s] current requirements for F-35s, B-21s, future [Next Generation Air Dominance] (NGAD) and other high-end weapon systems,” Gunzinger says in a webinar presentation on 1 October. “Instead of replacing those capabilities, the maximum combat value will be realized by figuring out how to best combine the operations of this family of UAVs with manned systems. In other words, how to best leverage the attributes of both systems in the battlespace.”

Attritable UAVs are aircraft that are designed to be inexpensive enough to be lost in significant numbers during combat without breaking the bank. The USAF classifies the types as priced between $2 and $20 million apiece.

The US Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) leading example of such an aircraft is its Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology flight demonstrator, the Kratos Defense XQ-58A Valkyrie , which would cost between $2 or $3 million, depending on the quantity ordered.

The USAF has kept design requirements for attritable UAVs small because as aircraft get bigger they tend to cost more, says Colonel Stryker Haley, deputy division chief of Air Force Warfighting Integrating Capability’s Futures & Concepts Division. For example, the XQ-58A has a wingspan of 8.2m (27ft) and a dry weight of 1,134kg (2,500lb). The UAV has an internal payload capacity of 272kg.

“Given their modest payloads, these UAVs might have the greatest combat value if used for non-kinetic missions, such as electromagnetic warfare, persistent [command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], and other operations that can really take advantage of their force multiplying potential, says Gunzinger,

The aircraft could also act as decoys or communication nodes.

“You can use them for multispectral decoys, not just the platform itself, but perhaps to deliver expendable decoys,” says Haley. “Think of that Russian nesting doll model, where I have this vehicle, it gets to the edge of the highly contested space, delivers a decoy, maybe instead of a missile. That starts to make it a little bit more difficult for our adversaries to target our higher cost systems like your F-35 or NGAD in the future.”

Moreover, by allowing attritable UAVs to fly ahead into contested airspace, while sweeping the horizon for enemy fighters or acting as decoys, networked manned aircraft that are flying behind could spot and fire at adversaries from greater ranges.

The UAVs could be used for some lethal missions, however. For example, an attritable aircraft could venture close to a dangerous target when releasing a precision munition. That sort of mission might otherwise risk the life of a pilot. Moreover, a loyal wingman could serve as a guardian to a manned fighter, carrying air-to-air missiles and thus freeing space inside the weapons bay of stealth fighters for precisions munitions.

So far, AFRL has shown its technologically possible for one pilot to control and command seven loyal wingman UAVs at once, says Doug Meador, deputy programme manager of the Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology programme. And, despite popular perception and renderings released by aerospace manufacturers loyal wingman UAVs and manned aircraft would not likely be flying close to one another, he adds.

“These aircrafts won’t be within visual range of one another,” he says. “You can work with these aircraft with them being over the horizon.”

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by SW1 »

https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/pres ... onstration

Leonardo, working in partnership with the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), have together successfully conducted a live trial of a ‘swarming drones’ capability. During the demo, a number of small, remotely-piloted aircraft equipped with Leonardo’s powerful electronic warfare jamming technology were used to confuse and overwhelm trial radars simulating enemy air defence systems.

Inspired by swarms of insects, the concept for swarming drones has already been recognised by the UK Ministry of Defence as a potentially game-changing future technology. Following a rapid cycle of development which saw the RCO and Leonardo’s engineers working closely together with UK SMEs Callen Lenz and Blue Bear, this live trial of the concept conducted by UK Armed Forces represents a key step towards proving an autonomous swarming drone capability.

During the demonstration, a number of Callen Lenz drones were equipped with a modified Leonardo BriteCloud decoy, allowing each drone to individually deliver a highly-sophisticated jamming effect. In addition, the decoy packages were programmed and navigated to work collaboratively to cause maximum confusion. They were tested against ground-based radar systems representing the enemy air defence emplacement. A powerful demonstration was given, with the swarm of BriteCloud-equipped drones overwhelming the threat radar systems with electronic noise.


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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by bobp »

First taxi run under own power.....







Full story here........... https://www.defense-aerospace.com/artic ... -taxi.html

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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by shark bait »

The Brits we're testing this kind of thing ages ago, but now what? yet more vaporware?
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Re: Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Post by Ron5 »

Excellent news, thanks for posting Bob. Hopefully a first flight before too long.

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