The term “HK” or Hunter-Killer was used in the 1984 film The Terminator to describe autonomous, twin-ducted fan UAS capable of identifying and destroying targets.
In September 2003, an announcement was made that Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works" was developing a stealthy air-launched UCAV named "Minion".
Its radar cross section is smaller than that of the F/A-22 Raptor (return smaller than a marble) and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter [1] Details released describe it as having a launch weight of 3,400 kilograms (7,500 pounds) and able to carry a reconnaissance payload, a jammer system, a high-power microwave weapon, or four 100 kilograms (220 pounds) GPS-guided small-diameter bombs.
Two would be carried into combat by a single strike fighter such as a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, with one under each wing, and launched from standoff distances to attack heavily defended targets.
In practice, two strike fighters are expected to be used, launching four Minions, with the pilot of one aircraft watching out for threats while the other directs the UCAVs over a line-of-sight communications link.
A vague picture released with the announcement showed the Minion to have a certain broad resemblance to various air-launched cruise missiles, such as the Anglo-French Matra-BAe Dynamics APACHE / Storm Shadow or the US AGM-158A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), which is also built by Lockheed Martin and may have some degree of commonality with the Minion.
Raytheon's perspective was that, as long as it performs to a minimum set of specifications, the individual airframe is less important than the systems it will carry.