Proteus, the shape changer: Northrop Grumman, through Burt Rutan's unconventional aircraft design approach, has recently explored the unmanned bomber path with a weapon drop test from Scaled Composites Proteus on 24 February, although in this instance the aircraft was crewed.

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Drone Update

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Proteus, the shape changer: Northrop Grumman, through Burt Rutan's unconventional aircraft design approach, has recently explored the unmanned bomber path with a weapon drop test from Scaled Composites Proteus on 24 February, although in this instance the aircraft was crewed.

The test was conducted over Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and was aimed at demonstrating the possibility of releasing a relatively heavy weapon--in this case a 500-pound, inert, low-drag, general purpose bomb--from an aircraft such as the Proteus (see title photograph). A Northrop Grumman spokesman told the author that

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