Here goes: Raytheon told me yesterday the company will continue to develop its version of the KillerBee unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) whose design was acquired and renamed Bat by Northrop Grumman on Monday, which occurred two years after Northrop severed its relationship with KillerBee-maker Swift Engineering, which then partnered with Raytheon to offer the KillerBee for the small tactical UAS (STUAS)/Tier II contract, for which Northrop has now licensed Raytheon to continue its bid based on the KillerBee, and for which Northrop will not compete with the Bat (aka KillerBee), while both companies independently develop larger and smaller versions of the same KillerBee/Bat for other potential customers.
If that's not clear enough, you can also read:
Raytheon affirms plans to launch family of Killer Bee UAS
Nothrop buys Swift's Killer Bee UAS family
on May 3, 2009 6:34 AM | Reply
It did cross my mind as to, "Why spend the resources to design and build a stealth platform akin to a B-2+--then attach a headlamp-tail-prop onto the rear end of the thing to announce its presence to all radar angles...?"
Let's hope there's some internal ducting in the final copy.
on May 4, 2009 7:06 AM | Reply
KB4 is not designed to be stealthy and has no LO features or coatings. Acoustic stealth is also questionable as the prop slices though the wings downwash emanating from its highly loaded wing 100 times a second.