Contract for unmanned off-the-shelf weapon raises profile of firm. (Media & Technology).It's part pilotless drone, part cruise missile cruise missile, low-flying, continuously powered offensive missile designed to evade defense systems. Although the German V-1 (1944) was a simple cruise missile, the cruise missile did not realize its potential until the 1970s, when the United States sought to -- and a fraction of the price of either. The Office of Naval Research The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia (Ballston), is the office within the U.S. Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. calls it the "affordable weapon," and San Diego-based Titan Corp. is its contractor. The company is working on the project under a $25.7 million pact awarded in 2002. If all goes well for Titan, the device could be part of the 2005 Pentagon budget. If all goes well for the Pentagon, the missile's price could fall to $50,000 per unit when in full production, according to Chuck Saffell, senior vice president for national security solutions at Titan. A Tomahawk tomahawk [from an Algonquian dialect of Virginia], hatchet generally used by Native North Americans as a hand weapon and as a missile. The earliest tomahawks were made of stone, with one edge or two edges sharpened (sometimes the stone was globe shaped). cruise missile costs $1.2 million; the Predator drone, made by General Atomics Aeronautical aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau Systems Inc., costs between $4 million and $5 million without its sensor suite. Key to the Titan drone's affordability is its use of commercial, off-the-shelf components rather than components made to military specifications. The weapon's jet engine comes from a catalog, Saffell said. Its igniter is the kind that rock bands use in stage shows. The Global Positioning System Global Positioning System: see navigation satellite. Global Positioning System (GPS) Precise satellite-based navigation and location system originally developed for U.S. military use. equipment is off the shelf. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times dubbed the project "Navy Meets Home Depot." The weapon takes off like a rocket, with a small booster on its tail. It could be launched from a shipping container, and it rides a short rail pointed at 45 degrees from the horizon. Tom Taylor, the Office of Naval Research program manager for the project, said that the Pentagon planned to field 100 missiles, 80 warheads and their shipping containers by the end of September. He said the missiles would carry weapons or surveillance packages. |
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