Fastest Drone

One of the problems of modern air training is finding a fast-enough target for fighter pilots and antiaircraft gunners to practice on. Towed targets are much too slow, and they don't maneuver realistically. The ordinary "drones" (small remotely controlled airplanes) are not fast enough either.

Last week the Navy announced that its gunners would soon have a target worthy of their fire: the Martin KDM-1, a pilotless plane powered with a ramjet engine, designed to fly close to the speed of sound. The little drone is carried into the air under the wing of a larger airplane and flown fast enough to start its ramjet. Then it is released and flies thenceforth under remote control, while the Navy gunners try to shoot it down. When its fuel is gone, the drone zooms high in the air. A parachute opens and it floats down to the sea, where it can be recovered, little damaged.

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