4 ms·

I've been following the story and this has been discussed on the local Reddit subs. They are almost certainly PteroDynamics XP-4 drones flying from and to the

I've been following the story and this has been discussed on the local Reddit subs. They are almost certainly PteroDynamics XP-4 drones flying from and to the military bases in question for testing purposes. There literally was a public demo of them on the USNS Burlington in Philadelphia a year ago.

coliveira 2y ago
[flagged]
- mjfl 2y ago
  Then Senators should stop blaming Iran for them. It’s irresponsible
  - hoppyhoppy2 2y ago
    That was a US Representative, not a Senator, but point taken
  - throwaway48476 2y ago
    They get money from the 'war with Iran' lobby. From their perspective such statements are rational.
- keepamovin 2y ago
  > should've already learned this, if they were not so stupid. The stupid take is the one you propose, it's ridiculous. So USAF has secret decoys in WWII and before, that followed WWII fighters, and hovered over people's houses, among millions of other sightings worldwide? So advanced yet they don't send them to war? The energy required for some UFO manoeuvres is far above what we know how to create: https://youtu.be/HlYwktOj75A?si=Q68f2ODxgO_IpGlv&t=770 https://youtu.be/HlYwktOj75A?si=Q68f2ODxgO_IpGlv&t=770
- matsemann 2y ago
  > People should've already learned this, if they were not so stupid. You're falling in the same trap as conspiracy theorists, though: Putting out almost non-falsifiable statements, and then claiming you know better and are smarter. Either it will be revealed that it was USAF and you can feel smug about being correct, or it will not come out and you can still feel smug about being correct because no one can prove you wrong.
  - selfmodruntime 2y ago
    Third option: You can draw conclusions from past projects made public where this exact thing happened dozens of times.
senkora 2y ago
Video of that model of drone: https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/13juxdi/pterodynamics_xp4_transwing_a_fixed_wing_aircraft/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/13juxdi/pt...
- VectorLock 2y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA1ENhxLqTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA1ENhxLqTo
  - bloopernova 2y ago
    I really like that it switches off the outer pair of propellers in level flight, that's a nice feature. Changing the vertical alignment of the wings to horizontal after takeoff is also really cool, an interesting alternative to 4 vertical propellers with a separate pair of wings. It seems to eliminate the extra moving parts to control those vertical propellers.
    - VectorLock 2y ago
      The linkage system is pretty cool I will say that.
- topspin 2y ago
  Something actually patent-worthy.
  - fer 2y ago
    How? it's just a UAV, quad version of a V-22 Osprey. Maybe I'm missing something peculiar about it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey
    - throwaway48476 2y ago
      The hinge mechanism and the control dynamics.
selfmodruntime 2y ago
HN is yet again amazed that military technology is in fact used to carry out secret operations.

coliveira 2y ago

[flagged]

mjfl 2y ago
Then Senators should stop blaming Iran for them. It’s irresponsible
- hoppyhoppy2 2y ago
  That was a US Representative, not a Senator, but point taken
- throwaway48476 2y ago
  They get money from the 'war with Iran' lobby. From their perspective such statements are rational.
keepamovin 2y ago
> should've already learned this, if they were not so stupid. The stupid take is the one you propose, it's ridiculous. So USAF has secret decoys in WWII and before, that followed WWII fighters, and hovered over people's houses, among millions of other sightings worldwide? So advanced yet they don't send them to war? The energy required for some UFO manoeuvres is far above what we know how to create: https://youtu.be/HlYwktOj75A?si=Q68f2ODxgO_IpGlv&t=770 https://youtu.be/HlYwktOj75A?si=Q68f2ODxgO_IpGlv&t=770
matsemann 2y ago
> People should've already learned this, if they were not so stupid. You're falling in the same trap as conspiracy theorists, though: Putting out almost non-falsifiable statements, and then claiming you know better and are smarter. Either it will be revealed that it was USAF and you can feel smug about being correct, or it will not come out and you can still feel smug about being correct because no one can prove you wrong.
- selfmodruntime 2y ago
  Third option: You can draw conclusions from past projects made public where this exact thing happened dozens of times.

senkora 2y ago

Video of that model of drone: https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/13juxdi/pterodynamics_xp4_transwing_a_fixed_wing_aircraft/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/13juxdi/pt...

VectorLock 2y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA1ENhxLqTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA1ENhxLqTo
- bloopernova 2y ago
  I really like that it switches off the outer pair of propellers in level flight, that's a nice feature. Changing the vertical alignment of the wings to horizontal after takeoff is also really cool, an interesting alternative to 4 vertical propellers with a separate pair of wings. It seems to eliminate the extra moving parts to control those vertical propellers.
  - VectorLock 2y ago
    The linkage system is pretty cool I will say that.
topspin 2y ago
Something actually patent-worthy.
- fer 2y ago
  How? it's just a UAV, quad version of a V-22 Osprey. Maybe I'm missing something peculiar about it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey
  - throwaway48476 2y ago
    The hinge mechanism and the control dynamics.

selfmodruntime 2y ago

HN is yet again amazed that military technology is in fact used to carry out secret operations.