Ryan YQM-98 R-Tern
YQM-98 R-Tern Compass Cope R | |
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Role | Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
Manufacturer | Ryan Aeronautical |
First flight | 17 August 1974 |
Status | Canceled |
Primary user | United States Air Force |
Developed from | Ryan AQM-91 Firefly |
The Ryan YQM-98 R-Tern (also called Compass Cope R) was a developmental aerial reconnaissance drone developed by Ryan Aeronautical. It could take off and land from a runway like a manned aircraft, and operate at high altitudes for up to 24 hours to perform surveillance, communications relay, or atmospheric sampling.
Design and development
"Compass Cope" was a program initiated by the
Boeing was originally selected as a sole source for the Compass Cope program, with the USAF awarding the company a contract for two YQM-94A (later YGQM-94A) demonstrator vehicles in 1971. However, Ryan then pitched an alternative, and the next year the USAF awarded Ryan a contract for two YQM-98A (later YGQM-98A) demonstrators as well.
Ryan's entry into the competition was the Model 235, an updated variant of the
Initial flight of the first Compass Cope R demonstrator was on 17 August 1974.[1] However, the Boeing Compass Cope B won the competition in August 1976 on the basis of lower cost, with the company awarded a contract to build preproduction prototypes of the YQM-94B operational UAV.
Since the evaluation of the Compass Cope prototypes had shown the Ryan YQM-98 to be superior to the
Specifications (Compass Cope R) (performance estimated)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Compass_Cope_flight_cover_1.jpg/220px-Compass_Cope_flight_cover_1.jpg)
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: None
- Length: 38 ft 4 in (11.68 m)
- Wingspan: 81 ft 2.5 in (24.75 m)
- Height: 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m)
- Wing area: 347 sq ft (32.24 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 19:1
- Empty weight: 5,600 lb (2,540 kg)
- Gross weight: 14,310 lb (6,490 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Garrett YF104-GA-100 , 4,000 lbf (18 kN) thrust
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 0.6
- Endurance: 30 hours
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Boeing YQM-94
References
- ISBN 0-354-00538-3.
- This article contains material that originally came from the web article Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B – National Museum of the United States Air Force
- Teledyne Ryan GQM-98 R-Tern