July 13, 2002
The US Air Force has put on show a futuristic robot plane designed to survive the rigours of the battlefield.
Previous pilotless drones have been plagued by problems, with at least eight crashing since the autumn.
The X-45 has been developed at a cost of $256m to carry weapons into combat and could be in service by 2010.
Officials expect the plane will be able to carry more than 3,000 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of bombs to drop on enemy radar and missile batteries.
"These have to buy their way in by performing as well in those missions as a manned asset would," said X-45 programme director, Colonel Michael Leahy.
Growth area
Boeing has built two X-45 prototypes. Only one of them has flown so far, reaching an airspeed of 195 knots and an altitude of 7,500 feet. The second prototype is due to start test flights in the autumn.
The X-45 is designed to be partially autonomous. Its pilot, who may fly several planes at once, would remain on the ground, out of harm's way.
The two Y-shaped aircraft have been developed by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (Darpa), the Air Force and Boeing.
They both sport a gaping air intake instead of a canopy, with a slim, stealthy profile.
The target cost of each plane is between $10m and $15m or about one-third the cost of next-generation fighter planes.
The Darpa, which develops future technologies for the Pentagon, has at least half-a-dozen other drones under development, some no larger than a cake tin.
Experts predicts the global market for military drones could be worth $7.5bn over the next decade.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2124000/2124946.stmThere has been speculation bin Laden could have fled from Afghanistan to neighboring Pakistan and taken shelter either in the country's lawless tribal areas or even its vast cities.
Last week, 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a shoot-out with around 20 or 30 suspected al Qaeda militants in a remote village near the Afghan border, where many local tribesman are thought to sympathize with the Taliban.
"What is happening in Pakistan, really in our border areas... is a few people who may be hiding around and who may even be assisted by some people, but a large body is not possible to be having sanctuary within Pakistan," Musharraf said.
Pakistan appealed to its people in a newspaper advertisement on Sunday for information to help in the hunt for bin Laden and his associates.
Time magazine reported in editions out on Monday that bin Laden was alive as of late December, which means he survived a U.S. assault on caves in Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan.
Evidence the Saudi-born militant was alive came in the form of a letter he wrote to his operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, which was found among the papers that Zubaydah was carrying when he was arrested in Pakistan in March, Time reported.
The hand-written note urges Zubaydah to continue fighting the United States even if something happens to bin Laden, Time reported citing a source who has seen a French intelligence analysis of it. Zubaydah is now in U.S. custody.
But Musharraf said he had seen no reliable evidence to prove bin Laden was still alive.
"We have been having a number of informations, a number of source reports emanating from him but their reliability cannot really be ascertained," Musharraf said in a joint news conference with visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. "So my stand has always been we cannot be very sure if he is dead or alive."
Bin Laden and al Qaeda are blamed for the September 11 hijack attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people.
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