Designing a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from a 'sensor-centric' perspective, as the US Air Force (USAF) is doing under its SensorCraft programme, poses challenges for the engineers crafting the air vehicle and its sensor suite, according to officials involved in the project. Engineers must first assemble the radar, large antennas, cameras .electronic listening equipment and datalinks that they think would operate optimally at altitudes around 65, 000ft and then mould a large air vehicle around them using novel composite materials and innovations in structural design, the officials said. This represents a new paradigm in aircraft development as designers normally build the air vehicle and then add the pay load.
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