Lockheed Martin Polecat Explained

The Lockheed Martin Polecat (company designation P-175) was an unmanned aerial vehicle by Lockheed Martin. It was developed by the company's Advanced Development Programs division in Palmdale, California.

Design and development

Designated P-175, the Polecat was funded internally by Lockheed Martin (as opposed to using United States Government funds) at the beginning of 2005. The prototype was unveiled at the 2006 Farnborough Airshow.^{[1] [2]} It was developed over a period of 18 months.^[3]

On December 18, 2006, the aircraft crashed due to an "irreversible unintentional failure in the flight termination ground equipment, which caused the aircraft's automatic fail-safe flight termination mode to activate."^[4]

Notes and References

1. "Farnborough picture: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works releases picture of secret Polecat UAV." Flight International. July 19, 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2013
2. "Aviation Week ShowNews Farnborough Day 4 E-zine ." Aviation Week & Space Technology. July 20, 2006.
3. Butler, A. "Lockheed Unveils Secret Polecat UAV Design." Aviation Week & Space Technology. July 19, 2006.
4. Trimble, S. "What Killed the Polecat?." Flightglobal.com. July, 2007.