Business Notes Aircraft

Unlike most military-aircraft makers, Continental RPVS is happy to see its planes go down in flames. Since 1981 the Barstow, Calif., company has been building radio-controlled replicas of fighter jets and selling them to U.S. military bases for target practice. Continental's remotely piloted vehicles bear the authentic markings of, say, a Soviet MiG-27 but are only one-fifth or one-seventh its size. As the RPVs fly through flak from antiaircraft guns, onboard electronic devices record the hits and near misses and send the information to a computer on the ground.

Continental planes, which cost up to $30,000, occasionally elude their attackers, but most buy the farm. As a result, sales are, well, taking off. The company's profits were $800,000 in 1985, and are expected to double this year. And President Ross Leggitt is seeking to widen his wars. He has already sold a few planes to the Canadian army, and is now setting his sights on the armed forces of Central and South America.