Northrop Grumman Bat

The Northrop Grumman Bat is a medium-altitude unmanned air vehicle originally developed for use by the United States Armed Forces, designed mainly as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tool. Northrop Grumman received design and marketing rights from Swift Engineering to the Killer Bee, which was renamed the Bat in April 2009. The blended wings merge with the fuselage into a single airfoil, made largely of composites, and the craft launches from a catapult and lands in a mobile retrieval net, using a rear pusher propeller with net hooks in the nose. The original version had a 10 foot wingspan and a 30 pound payload, while the later Bat 14 has a 14 foot wingspan, carries up to 100 pounds and can stay up for 18 hours. In August 2011 Northrop Grumman won a 26 million dollar contract for Sand Dragon B Tier II aircraft able to detect roadside bombs.