Ryan YQM-98

Last updated
YQM-98 R-Tern
Compass Cope R
Ryan YQM-98A 72-01872 from below.jpg
Role Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
Manufacturer Ryan Aeronautical
First flight 17 August 1974
Status Canceled
Primary user United States Air Force
Developed from Ryan AQM-91 Firefly

The Ryan YQM-98 R-Tern (also called Compass Cope R) was a developmental aerial reconnaissance drone developed by Ryan Aeronautical. 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 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.

Ryan Aeronautical aeronautics company

The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Teledyne in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovative V/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft was the Ryan Firebee line of unmanned drones used as target drones and unmanned air vehicles.

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.

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.

Ryan's entry into the competition was the Model 235, an updated variant of the Model 154 / AQM-91 Firefly. The YQM-98A's general configuration was similar to that of the Boeing Compass Cope B, resembling a jet sailplane with a twin-fin tail, retractable tricycle landing gear, and an engine in a pod on its back. The engine was a Garrett YF104-GA-100 turbofan, with 4,050 pound-force (18.0 kN) thrust. The Compass Cope R had a clear resemblance to the Model 154, though its wings were straight instead of swept.

Ryan AQM-91 Firefly long-range reconnaissance drone

The Ryan AQM-91 Firefly was a developmental drone developed during the Vietnam War to perform long-range reconnaissance, especially into China.

The Garrett ATF3 is a 3-spool turbofan engine developed at the California division of Garrett AiResearch. Due to mergers it is currently supported by Honeywell Aerospace. The engine is unusual as the core flow path is twice reversed 180 deg. Aft of the fan, the axial compressor has five stages, after which the gas path progresses to the aft end of the engine. There, it is reversed 180 deg and flows through a centrifugal compressor stage, the combustors and then the turbine stages. Beyond this, the flow is then reversed 180 deg again to exit in the fan bypass duct. All engine accessories are mounted on the aft end of the engine under an engine tail-cone.

Initial flight of the first Compass Cope R demonstrator was on 17 August 1974. [1] 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-94 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.

Boeing YQM-94 aerial reconnaissance drone prototype by Boeing

The Boeing YQM-94 B-Gull 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.

Specifications (Compass Cope R) (performance estimated)

Preserved YQM-98A on display without its engine at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Ryan Compass Cope Pima.JPG
Preserved YQM-98A on display without its engine at the Pima Air & Space Museum.

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77 [2]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: Mach 0.6
  • Endurance: 30 hours

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related Research Articles

Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar research aircraft by Boeing

The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including aerial reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and as a space interceptor to sabotage enemy satellites. The program ran from October 24, 1957 to December 10, 1963, cost US$660 million, and was cancelled just after spacecraft construction had begun.

Manned Orbiting Laboratory part of the United States Air Forces manned spaceflight program

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), originally referred to as the Manned Orbital Laboratory, was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane project. The project was developed from several early Air Force and NASA concepts of manned space stations to be used for reconnaissance purposes. MOL evolved into a single-use laboratory, with which crews would be launched on 40-day missions and return to Earth using a Gemini B spacecraft, derived from NASA's Project Gemini.

Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk

The AQM-37 Jayhawk is an air-launched supersonic target drone manufactured by Beechcraft capable of simulating inbound ICBM warhead packages for fleet shoot-down exercises.

Lockheed DC-130 drone control aircraft conversion of C-130 transport aircraft

The Lockheed DC-130 was a variant of the C-130 Hercules, designed for drone control. It could carry four Ryan Firebee drones underneath its wings.

Northrop AQM-35

The AQM-35 was a supersonic target drone produced by the Northrop Corporation.

Northrop AQM-38

The AQM-38 was an American target drone, developed during the 1950s by the Radioplane Division of the Northrop Corporation, Newbury Park, California, and manufactured by its Ventura Division at Van Nuys, California. Extensively used for surface-to-air missile training, over two thousand were built during its production run and it saw continued use within the United States Army and United States Navy for nearly twenty years.

Ryan Model 147

The Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug is a jet-powered drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle, produced and developed by Ryan Aeronautical from the earlier Ryan Firebee target drone series.

Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator built by Northrop Grumman

The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) designed for aircraft carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and subsequently became part of the United States Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B is a tailless jet-powered blended-wing-body aircraft capable of semi-autonomous operation and aerial refueling.

Ryan Firebee

The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built.

Lockheed AQM-60 Kingfisher

The AQM-60 Kingfisher, originally designated XQ-5, was a target drone version of the USAF's X-7 test aircraft built by the Lockheed Corporation. The aircraft was designed by Kelly Johnson, the designer who later went on to create the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and its relatives, such as the Lockheed A-12 and Lockheed YF-12.

Fairchild J44 small turbojet engine

The Fairchild J44 was a small turbojet developed in the 1940s by the Fairchild Engine Division.

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:

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.

The Boeing Phantom Eye was a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) liquid hydrogen-powered unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Boeing Phantom Works. The aircraft was Boeing's proposal to meet the demand from the US military for unmanned drones designed to provide advanced intelligence and reconnaissance work, driven by the combat conditions in Afghanistan in particular. In August 2016, the Phantom Eye demonstrator was disassembled for display at the Air Force Flight Test Museum.

Radioplane Q-1 high-speed target drone, U.S. Air Force, 1950

The Radioplane Q-1 was an American target drone, developed in the early 1950s for the United States Air Force by the Radioplane Company. Originally powered by a pulsejet engine, then later developed as an improved turbojet-powered aircraft, the Q-1 failed to win the favor of the USAF. However, the aircraft provided the basis of the GAM-67 Crossbow anti-radar missile.

Radioplane RP-77

The Radioplane RP-77 was a small target drone missile, constructed largely of plastic materials, produced by the Radioplane division of the Northrop Corporation. Although the RP-77D was successfully tested by the United States Army, the decision was made not to procure the aircraft.

References

  1. ↑ Taylor 1976, p. 637.
  2. ↑ Taylor 1976, pp. 637–638.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.