Northrop Grumman Firebird

Background

The Firebird was one of the last aircraft designs overseen by Burt Rutan, who retired in April 2011. The twin-boom aircraft has a pusher configuration and a long slender high aspect ratio wing with a very slight forward sweep angle. It is designed to carry up to four modules of reconnaissance equipment simultaneously on a separate system from that needed to control the plane, allowing equipment to be easily swapped. According to a Northrop executive, this design means payload integration takes days or weeks instead of years.

The aircraft can simultaneously view infrared imagery, gather real time high-definition video, use radar, and perform local signals intelligence. The idea for an aircraft capable of being flown with or without a pilot was first floated on February 9, 2009, by Rick Crooks, who contacted Scaled Composites about the possibility. Scaled agreed, and the aircraft made its first flight on February 9, 2010.

In October 2010, it demonstrated its capabilities of collecting information from multiple sources simultaneously for the first time during a demonstration flight in Sacramento, California, for defense officials. On 9 May 2011 the aircraft was publicly unveiled for the first time, and between 23 May and 3 June 2010, it participated in the 2011 Empire Challenge exercise, where it displayed its ability to carry multiple payloads and switch them out rapidly. A new variant with a wingspan widened from 72.2 to 79.2 ft first flew in March 2018 and was intended to be launched in early 2019. The Firebird had its European debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo air show at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom in July 2019.