Vulture

Aurora Flight Sciences has revealed the design of the aircraft it hopes will achieve the ambitious goals set out in DARPA's ambitious Vulture program: sustained uninterrupted flight for over five years at altitudes of 60,000-90,000 feet. Known as Odysseus,

Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that it has been awarded a contract to develop a radical new aircraft that can stay aloft for up to five years. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) made the award under a program known as "Vulture."

DARPA's Vulture is yet another of the agency's blue sky programs, this one maybe more than others. Vulture is intended to fly for periods of up to five years unattended at 65,000 feet.

The Pentagon's far-out science division wants an unmanned, "unblinking eye from above" to watch over an area for "weeks, months, even years." And if that doesn't do the surveillance trick, veggie-eating killer robots on the ground will pick up the slack. You may now break out the tinfoil hats.