The Temco XKDT Teal was an American rocket-propelled, high-performance
target drone, built by
Temco Aircraft for evaluation by the
United States Navy in the late 1950s. Production was not proceeded with following evaluation of the type.
Design and development
The XKDT was designed for use an inexpensive and expendable air-launched, high-performance target drone. Its design utilized a low-set
swept wing
A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigate ...
, and an inverted
cruciform tail; the structure of the aircraft included aluminum honeycomb wing construction and extensive use of magnesium and
fiberglass in the
fuselage.
[Targets and Drones]
. ''Flight'', 23 December 1960; p. 992. It was intended to reach speeds of up to
Mach
Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to:
Computing
* Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology
* ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI
* GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...
0.95.
[XKDT-1"]
Vought Heritage: Products. Vought Aircraft Industries Retiree Club. Accessed 2013-02-11.
The Teal could be launched at any altitude of up to ; speed at launch was between and . Following launch a
dual-thrust solid fuel
Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fuels ...
rocket motor ignited; thrust was for the first four seconds of powered flight, followed by for approximately 500 seconds propulsive time.
Control was provided by a three-axis
autopilot;
radar reflector
A corner reflector is a retroreflector consisting of three mutually perpendicular, intersecting flat surfaces, which reflects waves directly towards the source, but translated. The three intersecting surfaces often have square shapes. Radar co ...
s and
infrared flare
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
s provided an assist in tracking the drone, and at the end of nine minutes' flight time a
self-destruct device would be activated.
Operational history
The first flight of a XKDT-1 took place in September 1957; most flights utilized a
McDonnell F3H Demon carrier aircraft.
Following the conclusion of the evaluation program, no production contract was placed; supersonic targets having become preferred.
Specifications (XKDT-1)
References
External links
{{USN drones
KDT
1950s United States special-purpose aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Rocket-powered aircraft
Target drones of the United States
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States
Aircraft first flown in 1957