The new unmanned aerial vehicle, created according to the “flying wing” aerodynamic scheme and equipped with a hybrid power plant, received the name XRQ-73. It is being developed by the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
DARPA hopes to conduct the first flight tests of the XRQ-73 as early as 2024, the release stated. War Zone.
The XRQ-73 drone is externally similar to a number of already existing devices – for example, the RQ-170 Sentinel from the Skunk Works division of the American military-industrial company Lockheed Martin. However, the XRQ-73 received a double air intake instead of a single air intake in the upper part of the central fuselage section.
No technical details about the XRQ-73 have been announced yet, but it is known that the drone will weigh 566 kilograms. Its devices are among the group 3 UAVs that can fly at an altitude of 1 to 54 kilometers and reach a maximum speed of 185 to 460 kilometers per hour.