Bae Systems, Inc.

British Aerospace Public Limited Company

Geoffrey Salkeld

George Reginald Seyfang

Christopher John Hunter

Richard George Harrison

Darren Holdcroft

Terry Prendergast

Neil John Calder

Brian J Beele

The present invention relates to an aircraft with a surveillance system characterized in that the direction of flight towards a target is achievable by shifting the center of gravity of the vehicle towards the target. The center of gravity is shifted towards the target by pointing the surveillance system at the target.

Unmanned aerial vehicle

The invention provides apparatus having a sensor system for providing sensor information for a monitoring, control or other operating function of the apparatus. The sensor system comprises: a transducer () adapted to be responsive to a predetermined environmental characteristic of the apparatus for providing an electrical output, and means () adjacent to the transducer to accentuate the said characteristic. At least one sensor () is arranged to be operated by power derived from the electrical output for generating a detection signal, and means () arranged to be operated by power derived from the electrical output and responsive to the detection signal are also provided for communicating sensor information to a processing unit remote from the sensor system and associated with the said function.

Sensor system

An aircraft comprising interchangeable wings detachedly connected to a fuselage , each wing containing the fuel and flight systems for engines mounted to the wings , so that the fuselage need contain no flight systems, simply a &ldquo;bus&rdquo; for communication and the transfer of data between the wings.

Aircraft

A radar for an aircraft (1) comprises end-plates (4a, 4b) mounted at the tip's of two pairs of aircraft wings (2a, 2b, 3a, 3b). Each end-plate carries a sideways-looking phased array (6) whose beam is unobstructed by aircraft structure. The array can be made to have a large area, thus producing a narrow beam, steerable over a large solid angle. In one embodiment, the end plates (4a, 4b) incorporate fins (5a, 5b) which replace the aircraft fin to afford lateral stability and control.

Airborne radar

Air-to-ground radar (2) is stabilized by comparing the power of the returning echo occurring during an initial period after the transmission of each pulse with that occurring during a following period after the transmission of each pulse, and using the result of this comparison to control an elevation controller (13) of the radar (2). Means (7, 8) provide a first power signal representative of the power of the returning echo occurring during an initial period after the transmission of each pulse, means (7, 9, 10) provide a second power signal representative of the power of the returning echo occurring during a following period after the transmission of each pulse, and a comparator (12) compares the magnitude of the first and second power signals and outputs a control signal causing the elevation controller (13) to raise or lower the elevation at which output pulses are projected.

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Preston, United Kingdom

Geoffrey Salkeld