Boeing YQM-94

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YQM-94 B-Gull
Compass Cope B
Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B USAF.jpg
Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Role Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
Manufacturer Boeing
First flight28 July 1973
StatusCanceled
Primary user United States Air Force

The Boeing YQM-94 B-Gull (also called Compass Cope B) was a developmental aerial reconnaissance drone developed by Boeing. It could take off and land from a runway like a manned aircraft, and operate at high altitudes for up to 24 hours to perform aerial surveillance, communications relay, or atmospheric sampling.

Aerial reconnaissance military exploration and observation by means of aircraft or other airborne platforms

Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. This role can fulfil a variety of requirements, including the collection of imagery intelligence, observation of enemy maneuvers and artillery spotting.

Unmanned aerial vehicle Aircraft without a human pilot aboard

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS); which include a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two. The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: either under remote control by a human operator or autonomously by onboard computers.

Boeing Aerospace and defense manufacturer in the United States

The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services. Boeing is among the largest global aircraft manufacturers; it is the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world based on 2017 revenue, and is the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value. Boeing stock is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Contents

Design and development

Compass Cope was a program initiated by the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1971 to develop an upgraded reconnaissance drone that could take off and land from a runway like a manned aircraft, and operate at high altitudes for up to 24 hours to perform surveillance, communications relay, or atmospheric sampling. Two aircraft, the Boeing YQM-94 Compass Cope B, and the Ryan Aeronautical YQM-98A Compass Cope R participated in the program.[ citation needed ]

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

Reconnaissance military exploration beyond the area occupied by friendly forces

In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and other activities in the area.

Runway Area of surface used by aircraft to takeoff from and land on

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface.

Boeing was originally selected as a sole source for the Compass Cope program, with the USAF awarding the company a contract for two YQM-94A (later YGQM-94A) demonstrator vehicles in 1971. However, Ryan then pitched an alternative, and the next year the USAF awarded Ryan a contract for two YQM-98A (later YGQM-98A) demonstrators as well.[ citation needed ]

The Boeing YQM-94A is a cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane, basically a jet-powered sailplane, with long straight wings, a twin fin tail, retractable tricycle landing gear, and a turbojet housed in a pod on its back. The engine was a General Electric YJ97-GE-100 providing 5,270 lb (2,390 kg) thrust. The YQM-94A was constructed using aluminium and fiberglass. The lower half of the circular-section fuselage was glass-fibre honeycomb, the same material used for radomes. The wings of the YQM-94A were constructed of aluminium-skinned honeycomb with a fiberglass core which insulated the fuel tanks from the cold encountered at the altitudes it was flown. [1]

Tricycle landing gear aircraft undercarriage arranged with main gear under the wing or fuselage and a third set under the nose

Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or landing gear, arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle gear aircraft are the easiest to take-off, land and taxi, and consequently the configuration is the most widely used on aircraft.

Turbojet jet engine

The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine, typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine. The compressed air from the compressor is heated by the fuel in the combustion chamber and then allowed to expand through the turbine. The turbine exhaust is then expanded in the propelling nozzle where it is accelerated to high speed to provide thrust. Two engineers, Frank Whittle in the United Kingdom and Hans von Ohain in Germany, developed the concept independently into practical engines during the late 1930s.

The General Electric J97 is a single-shaft turbojet engine designed and built by General Electric as a compact high-performance engine for light attack fighters and eventually a number of drone projects.

Since the YQM-94A was a demonstrator, it used some off-the-shelf components to reduce costs. The datalink was based on the AN/TPW-2A X-band radar. The flight control system was derived from a system developed by the Sperry Corporation for the Beechcraft QU-22B Pave Eagle. The Compass Cope B was controlled remotely from the ground with no autonomous guidance capability. A television camera in the nose allowed it to be remotely flown by a ground-based pilot. The undercarriage for the YQN-94B came from a Rockwell Commander. The YQM-94's fuselage sits lower than the Rockwell Commander, so Boeing used this as a lift-dumping system. As the aircraft settled down on its specially strengthened nose wheel, the wing was placed in a negative angle of attack. [1]

Sperry Corporation company

Sperry Corporation (1910−1986) was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Through a series of mergers it exists today as a part of Unisys, while some other of its former divisions became part of Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies, and Northrop Grumman.

Rockwell Commander 112 American monoplane

The Rockwell Commander 112 is an American four-seat single-engined general aviation aircraft designed and built by North American Rockwell starting in 1972. In 1976 they introduced the turbocharged 112TC and a version mounting a larger engine and other minor improvements as the Rockwell Commander 114. A total of approximately 1,000 examples of all models were produced before the production line shut down in 1980.

The remote control system was tested using a Cessna 172 aircraft over a ten-month period. Boeing choose the Cessna 172 because its approach speed and wing loading were close to that of the YQM-94. At the end of 1971, the YQM-94 remote control system had been tested during 150 flights using eight different remote pilots to control the Cessna 172. Ninety of those flights occurred at night with a low light level television system. A safety check pilot was on board the Cessna 172 as it was flown remotely from the ground. On three occasions, this pilot took over manual control of the Cessna to avoid collisions with other aircraft and during a failure of the remote control system. [1]

Cessna 172 Light, single engine aircraft, most numerous production aircraft in history

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company. First flown in 1955, more 172s have been built than any other aircraft.

Low light level television (LLLTV) is a type of electronic sensing device, usually a CCD camera sensitive to wavelengths above the normal "visible" wavelengths, and into the short-wave Infrared - usually to about 1.0 to 1.1 micrometres. This allows viewing of objects in extremely low light levels, where they would not be seen by the naked eye. LLLTVs tend to be more affordable than infrared cameras, which typically cover ranges from 3 to 5 µm (MWIR)or 8 to 12 µm (LWIR)

Initial flight of the first YQM-94A demonstrator was on 28 July 1973, at Edwards Air Force Base. This aircraft crashed on its second flight on 4 August 1973. The prototype was lost because a damaged piece of mylar insulation caused an electrical short-circuit in a rudder accelerometer. The erroneous signals generated by this accelerometer caused random rudder movements. This problem was compounded by an erroneous airspeed indication for the ground pilot and a control problem because the left wing was heavier than it should have been. These problems resulted in a hard landing which caused irreparable damage to the first prototype. [1]

The second demonstrator performed its first flight on 2 November 1974, and completed the evaluation program. Later tests of this aircraft included a successful endurance flight of 17 hours 24 minutes at altitudes of more than 55,000 feet (16,800 m). [2] This aircraft was retired to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in September 1979. [3]

Ryan's entry into the competition was an updated variant of the Model 154 / AQM-91 Firefly, which it called the Model 235. Initial flight of the first Compass Cope R demonstrator was in August 1974. However, the Boeing Compass Cope B won the competition in August 1976 on the basis of lower cost, with the company awarded a contract to build preproduction prototypes of the YQM-94B operational UAV.

Since the evaluation of the Compass Cope prototypes had shown the Ryan YQM-98 to be superior to the Boeing YQM-94A in some respects, Ryan challenged the award. It did no good, since the entire Compass Cope program was cancelled in July 1977, apparently because of difficulties in developing sensor payloads for the aircraft.[ citation needed ]

Specifications

Data fromJane's All the World's Aircraft 1973-74 [4]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Endurance: 30 hours  0 min
  • Service ceiling: 70000 ft (21340 m)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

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Compass Cope was a program initiated by the United States Air Force to develop an upgraded reconnaissance Unmanned aerial vehicle. The two aircraft that participated in the program were:

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References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Compass Cope" (PDF). Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  2. ↑ NMUSAF (November 6, 2015), Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B, National Museum of the United States Air Force
  3. ↑ "United States Air Force Museum", Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., AMC Branch, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 1987, page 145.
  4. ↑ Taylor, John W. R. (1973). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1973–74. London, United Kingdom: Jane's Yearbooks. p. 519. ISBN   0-354-00117-5.
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