US Air Force's Angry Kitten turns Reaper drone into fierce feline of electronic warfare

The US Air Force is turning to an unlikely place to beef up its electronic warfare countermeasures: a decade-old aircraft-mounted pod known as the "Angry Kitten." While not a new device for the USAF, the latest tests involved the first flight of the Angry Kitten Electronic Warfare Pod on an unmanned craft, in this case a …

[Spaller]

How well does it work with jet fuel dumped in front of the drone?

[AbnormalChunks]

I'd imagine it'd be fine after all external stores carried on combat aircraft are weather sealed. Now would a belligerent Sukhoi (or similar) be able vent fuel in your path with 'Angry Kitten' (aka. ALQ-167 but 'Angry Kitten' is more fun) under a wing is perhaps a more pertinent question...

[Rattus]

dumpping fuel

All I can see, in my warped mid's eye, is a cartoon of a cat hanging under wing with a zippo lighter setting fire to the dumped fuel and then flames follow all the way back to the aircraft that dumped it....

ka-boom

/andy

[Anonymous Coward]

20 goto 10

[Arthur the cat]

How well does it work with jet fuel dumped in front of the drone?

How well will the enemy pilots work after having a fur ball and half a tin of Whiskas hacked up on their laps?

[hittitezombie]

AIM here

All that requires to stop that is a nice modern AIM-9 hanging off a pod on the other wing. It's not like they are very heavy and they are a very much known quantity for integration - almost any military aircraft flying since 1960s are capable of slinging one.

[Anonymous Coward]

It would seem

Base on past experience, the best policy in that event is for the drone to kamakazi the offending fighter if it can, since it will crash anyway when the unskilled fighter pilot inevitably clips it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does it have fins?

I understand the aerodynamics reasons why such a pod would need the pointed nose and cylindrical body of a missile. But why the fins? It's not something to be launched... right?

[Catkin]

Re: Why does it have fins?

If it has to be ejected from the drone (loss of control), it's better for it to fall fast for maximum destruction when it hits the ground, rather than tumbling and potentially leaving something usable in a slower impact.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why does it have fins?

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks.

[NickHolland]

Re: Why does it have fins?

The Register: one of the only places on the Internet where it is worth reading the comments.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why does it have fins?

Stabilization. Wing station mounted hardware is subject to a large amount of turbulence and vibration, which can become self-amplifying to a degree that it can cause structural damage.

[Death Boffin]

Safe separation

The fins are there to ensure predictable flight characteristics in the event the pod has to be jettisoned in an emergency.

[Brian Miller]

Defense of budget, not nation

"We're just too slow. It shouldn't take us five years, six years to turn the ship around," Bacon opined.

Well, duh! First-world capitalist militaries are focused on defense of their budget, not defense of the nation. Everything is predicated on money in, not effective defense out. Everything is about gadget ships, gadget planes, and gadget tanks. We have to scrap billions and billions of equipment, a measurement worthy of Carl Sagan. Defense is being run into the ground building equipment that should have never left the drawing board.

Maybe the Register needs a new cost metric, referencing Carl Sagan: "billions and billions". "We have wasted ten Sagans in defense spending."

[PhilipN]

Re: Defense of budget, not nation

My thoughts exactly.

And “they were focused ..” Pathetic, but I guess having such a large piggy bank overflowing with billions of dollars tends to spoil the focus. It would mine.

[ThatOne]

Re: Defense of budget, not nation

It's clearly pork barrel season.

Everyone will take offense at his own pet industry not getting as much money as they should, backed up by some "Think Tank" lobbying group's very convenient "conclusions".

"We're doomed, utterly doomed, unless you give my friends and benefactors a cartload of billions! NOW!"

[hittitezombie]

Re: Defense of budget, not nation

The US spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined. Talking about not investing on it is double-speak.

[Claptrap314]

Re: Defense of budget, not nation

You severely underestimate the level of corruption in the system. We were reasonably-focused during the cold war. That, sadly, was an aberration. The Continental Congress orders ships of the line--two ended up being delivered.

[Anonymous Anti-ANC South African Coward]

Just slap a "Hello Kitty" bumper sticker on it, and you're good to go.

Alternatively, call it Greebo* and leave it at that. (Only Pterry fans will understand).

*"He's just a big softy" - Nanny Ogg.

[Xalran]

Kittens...

And next we will have Exploding Kitten pods...

[NickHolland]

Radio jammer on an RC plane

A radio jammer on a radio controlled aircraft.

Did anyone else think "This could go badly"?

Just me? ok. nevermind.