Images of the UK’s first prototype stealth surveillance aircraft have been unveiled. The unmanned vehicle, which has been built by BAE Systems, is known as the Corax, or as the Raven.

Bill Sweetman, [Janes] aerospace and technology editor, said Corax could represent one member of a family of stealthy aircraft based around a similar central body but using different outer wings optimised for different missions.

“If you look at that Corax shape, it’s very reminiscent of something that’s designed to fly fairly high, fairly slow and have quite a long endurance. It looks rather typical for a surveillance aircraft,” he told the BBC News website.

“But if you take those long outer wings off and put on shorter swept wings, you have a somewhat faster aircraft that would be more of a penetrating strike platform.”

I wonder which portion of the English-speaking economies will predominate? The part where corporations increase profits by outsourcing jobs — and saving a few bucks an hour? Or the part where they eliminate the job of pilot from planes designed to watch EVERYONE — for another million dollar$ an hour?

It is a neat looking craft, though. Doesn’t have that pregnant guppy look of the Predator.