Congratulations for having capabilities Russia has had for three decades.
Which are in active service today?
Regardless, the US beat Russia to that too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_X-112
oorah!
US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
41–50 of 107 posts
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#42From the wiki I take it they have yet to build and fly a full-sized prototype "A 1/4 scale model was successfully demonstrated in 2022 in Narragansett Bay"[1] Also I assume radar-proof is just because it's a ground effect vehicle that will never fly high enough to show up on radar it certainly doesn't look all angular like a stealth bomber. In which case my bicycle is also radar-proof? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…
> Also I assume radar-proof is just because it's a ground effect vehicle that will never fly high enough to show up on radar it certainly doesn't look all angular like a stealth bomber. In which case my bicycle is also radar-proof? From the way the article is worded, it does seem the author is only considering air search radar with this claim. Without low observability features, this will show up on surface search an…
Even on airborne radars like AWACS, they can detect ground movement. They typically have a filter to ignore things under certain speeds as they are not typically concerned about traffic near highway speeds. However, the proposed speeds for this thing would still show up with those filters enabled. It would be interesting to see what minimum speeds would be.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This will not primarily be for rescue ops It seems like combat SAR in the maritime environment is what these are best at. > The "Viceroy" craft that Regent has mocked up on their website claims 180 mile range, 3500lb of cargo / 2 crew + 12 passengers. This is like 1/4th the size needed for minimum scale sustainment and support. Not to say that it won't be used for that in a pinch or for special operations, but it's…
The company press release states "The second phase of work will examine seaglider capabilities across missions including contested logistics and medevac/casevac". I agree that this would be useful for medevac/casevac, but I'm less sure about the search part of SAR. 180 miles is not a lot of range for searching. I still believe this is primarily about contested logistics, because the USMC still hasn't solved that issu…
> but I'm less sure about the search part of SAR
The article never mentioned the search part of SAR, only the rescue part. The range is still something of an issue with that, though, as you'd need to be fairly close the people needing rescuing. So I still agree that contested rescue is likely a side mission for this.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#44Ha, I love the "rescue ops". This will not primarily be for rescue ops. This will be for supporting Marine standin operations on and within the first island chain. The marines have been trying to figure out how they can handle sustainment and logistics in that environment. You can read some wonkish article about this (back in 2022) https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/sustainment-of-the-stand-i... . You'll note that the…
I laughed when I saw the article photo combined with the headline. The Marines will be island hopping in Higgins boats again before these are adopted. How long did it take it for the Osprey to make it into service?
My father was a Marine in the late 80's, early 90's and would talk about the Osprey being in development. They were still in development 20 years later when I was a Marine. I did get to fly in one before getting out though.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#45Ha, I love the "rescue ops". This will not primarily be for rescue ops. This will be for supporting Marine standin operations on and within the first island chain. The marines have been trying to figure out how they can handle sustainment and logistics in that environment. You can read some wonkish article about this (back in 2022) https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/sustainment-of-the-stand-i... . You'll note that the…
> This will not primarily be for rescue ops. The "radar-evading" rather gives the game away.
Radar evasion is very useful if you're rescuing someone from enemy/contested territory.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also I assume radar-proof is just because it's a ground effect vehicle that will never fly high enough to show up on radar it certainly doesn't look all angular like a stealth bomber. In which case my bicycle is also radar-proof? From the way the article is worded, it does seem the author is only considering air search radar with this claim. Without low observability features, this will show up on surface search an…
Even on airborne radars like AWACS, they can detect ground movement. They typically have a filter to ignore things under certain speeds as they are not typically concerned about traffic near highway speeds. However, the proposed speeds for this thing would still show up with those filters enabled. It would be interesting to see what minimum speeds would be.
Yes, AWACS has limited moving target indicator (MTI) capability. A full-featured maritime MTI radar would easily pick this up, provided the signal processing algorithms don't reject the track for moving too fast.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
They just started testing a full scale prototype like at the start of March. https://www.regentcraft.com/news/regent-begins-sea-trials-of... They've done boat mode tests, but they haven't flown yet.
Thanks for sharing, I honestly wish this company the best electric planes are a hard problem to solve and it's good to see anyone making an honest effort. However to poke just a little fun this line stands out as a hilarious marketing claim that cannot possibly be true "Almost all (98%) of UAE coastal residents are interested in riding a seaglider, according to our global consumer survey." It's also interesting to no…
I’m imagining the aging defense contract awarders listening to the podcasts right now on the treadmill.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I laughed when I saw the article photo combined with the headline. The Marines will be island hopping in Higgins boats again before these are adopted. How long did it take it for the Osprey to make it into service?
> How long did it take it for the Osprey to make it into service? I was curious so I went and looked; 1981 - Initial development contract awarded 1983 - Bell/Boeing submitted their prototype and since it was the only submission, they were awarded the contract 1985 - Osprey designation established, first full size prototypes under development 1988 - First Osprey was finished 1989 - First testing of the prototypes star…
COD wasn't "testing various modes." It was a completely new requirement to replace Navy C-2s which were reaching end of life. It wasn't part of the original contract; it was a completely new "oh, we have this on the shelf and it's fit enough for purpose."
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#49Ha, I love the "rescue ops". This will not primarily be for rescue ops. This will be for supporting Marine standin operations on and within the first island chain. The marines have been trying to figure out how they can handle sustainment and logistics in that environment. You can read some wonkish article about this (back in 2022) https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/sustainment-of-the-stand-i... . You'll note that the…
> This will not primarily be for rescue ops. The "radar-evading" rather gives the game away.
SAR assets can still be shot at. Opposed SAR is something the Navy and Marine Corps train to.
Re: US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How long did it take it for the Osprey to make it into service? I was curious so I went and looked; 1981 - Initial development contract awarded 1983 - Bell/Boeing submitted their prototype and since it was the only submission, they were awarded the contract 1985 - Osprey designation established, first full size prototypes under development 1988 - First Osprey was finished 1989 - First testing of the prototypes star…
COD wasn't "testing various modes." It was a completely new requirement to replace Navy C-2s which were reaching end of life. It wasn't part of the original contract; it was a completely new "oh, we have this on the shelf and it's fit enough for purpose."
Yeah fair, I jumped to that since it was in the Wiki but through the 2010's there were a number of other options for development milestones.