The U.S. Sold This Unique Stealth Drone Called 'Scarab' To Egypt In The 1980s

[Abbazorkzog]

The U.S. Sold This Unique Stealth Drone Called 'Scarab' To Egypt In The 1980s
The Egyptians never even unboxed most of the unmanned aircraft, which were state-of-the-art for their time, but they may still be flying some of them.

By Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway November 17, 2018

Earlier in 2018, Scaled Composites, an aviation company well known for its advanced and novel designs, and now a division of Northrop Grumman, quietly posted a series of previously unreleased images online of a stealthy reconnaissance drone called the Scarab. Decades earlier, Scaled had built an initial batch of the unmanned aircraft on behalf of what was then Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, who, in turn, sold them to just one customer, Egypt.

It’s not entirely clear what the specific impetus was for Egypt’s interest in the drone was, but in 1978, then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had signed the Camp David Accords with then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. This led to a formal peace treaty between the two countries the following year. It also came along with a pledge by the United States, which had mediated the deal, that it would provide both countries with significant amounts of often advanced military aid.

To this day, these two countries are among the top recipients of American foreign military assistance. Scarab could have been attractive to the Egyptians as it would have provided an advanced aerial reconnaissance tool that would have been highly survivable against most, if not all of the air defense threats in the broader Middle East region at the time. This means that it could collect details imagery of enemy positions without the need for air superiority to ensure its survival.

This articles goes down a rabbit hole, and its quite long. I haven't had time to read the entire thing yet but I figured it should be linked here.

 

[ecofarm]

Does it have a floppy drive?