The robot apocalypse came a step closer as Northrop Grumman and the US Navy carried out a successful carrier-style landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator.
The test, which was carried out on May 4 at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, used a land-based version of an aircraft carrier cable-arrested landing system as the beginning of the final phase of testing prior to carrier-based trials planned for later this month.
Landing on an aircraft carrier is one of the most hair-raising maneuvers a pilot can carry out. Even the most jaded has sweaty palms while guiding in a 60-million dollar aircraft at hundreds of miles an hour to land on a flight deck that looks about the size of a chocolate bar. Watching an autonomous unmanned aircraft try the same thing is almost as bad, but if combat UAVs like the X-47B are to become part of the fleets of the future, they’ll need to master the art so they don’t end up as piles of high tech scrap.
Saturday’s test was a cable-arrested landing, which is the technique that allows high-speed aircraft to land on a short carrier deck with relative safety. During landing, the aircraft deploys a landing hook that snags a heavy cable strung across the flight deck. As the cable plays out, it absorbs the energy of the plane and quickly brings it to a controlled stop. In the X-47B’s case, this system was set up on an airfield rather than an aircraft carrier, but the navigation approach was designed to simulate that of carrier operation.
The landing was the highlight of three three months of shore-based carrier testing , which included precision approaches, touch-and-go landings, and precision landings. Carl Johnson, vice president and Navy (UCAS Carrier Demonstration) UCAS program manager for Northrop Grumman said, “The X-47B air vehicle performs exactly as predicted by the modeling, simulation and surrogate testing we did early in the UCAS-D program. It takes off, flies and lands within a few feet of its predicted path.”
The Latest Bing News on:
Unmanned Combat Air System
- Cabinet of Ministers supports creation of Unmanned Systems Forces in Ukraineon May 7, 2024 at 1:32 pm
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has supported the draft presidential decree on the creation of a separate branch of the Ukrainian Armed Forces - the Unmanned Systems Forces, according to Umerov.
- Air Force fighter jet takes historic first flight controlled by artificial intelligenceon May 3, 2024 at 3:22 pm
An experimental F-16 fighter jet has taken Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on a history-making flight controlled by artificial intelligence and not a human pilot.
- Japan hastens pursuit of unmanned ground vehicles for its militaryon May 2, 2024 at 3:12 am
Foreign vendors are so far dominating Tokyo's lineup of trial robots, as the government tries to catch up on the use of unmanned systems.
- The Air Force’s Combat Drone Saga Has Taken a Dramatic Turnon April 30, 2024 at 8:00 am
General Atomics XQ-67A Off Board Sensing Station (OBSS) drone seen during its first flight on Feb. 28, 2024 after taking off from Gray Butte Airport in Palmdale, CA. This design appears to correspond ...
- Anduril and General Atomics selected by USAF to build its collaborative unmanned combat aircraft prototypeson April 28, 2024 at 3:32 pm
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) announced that Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) were selected to advance the manufacturing o ...
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicleson April 27, 2024 at 1:53 am
The flights were the first involving a large fixed-wing aircraft at one of the FAA's six national UAS test sites, Aurora says.
- Ground Drones: The Next Frontier Of Unmanned Combat In Ukraineon April 18, 2024 at 8:28 am
Recent footage from Ukraine shows both Russia and Kyiv are using unmanned ground vehicles in combat. Here is why wheeled drones have proved the most difficult remote-controlled systems to develop.
- Why The U.S. Navy Stopped Using The X-47B Stealth Droneon April 14, 2024 at 10:29 pm
A year later, the Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration project ended. The X-47B was just a demonstration, a proof of concept. However, the project led to the Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling ...
- Northrop Grumman X-47B: The US Navy's Historic Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicleon March 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Two were developed for use under the US Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) Carrier Demonstration Program. First flying in 2011, the X-47B took part in flight testing and sea trials ...
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicleson October 29, 2023 at 11:28 pm
General Atomics' MQ-9B drones will help the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command develop a beyond-the-horizon power projection capability.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Unmanned Combat Air System
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Unmanned Combat Air System” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Autonomous unmanned aircraft
- Vigilant Aerospace Awarded OCAST Grant to Develop Distributed Airspace Management Systemon May 9, 2024 at 11:45 pm
Vigilant Aerospace Systems, the leading developer of multi-sensor airspace management and collision avoidance software for drones and advanced air mobility, has been awarded a $500,000 grant as ...
- DARPA Manta Ray is a Breakthrough Unmanned Drone Submarineon May 9, 2024 at 1:23 pm
The Manta Ray can wait on the seabed to intercept nuclear submarines. DARPA’s Manta Ray is an autonomous, uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) that can operate at depths that traditional submersibles can ...
- Forget the F-22 and F-35: The U.S. Air Force Wants NGAD Fighterson May 9, 2024 at 12:35 pm
When it comes to missions, the NGAD fighter jet is intended as an air superiority combat aircraft whose job it is to clear the skies of enemy fighter jets, thus clearing the way for other friendly ...
- Airbus Acquires Aerovel, Bolstering Tactical Unmanned Aerial Capabilitieson May 9, 2024 at 6:21 am
Airbus has completed the acquisition of U.S.-based Aerovel, taking ownership of its prominent unmanned aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor. This strategic acquisitio ...
- DSA 2024: BAE Systems showcases autonomous capabilitieson May 7, 2024 at 9:03 am
BAE Systems showcased its Herne extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XLAUV) and T-650 all-electric heavy-lift unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at the ...
- Soaring Achieves First Documented Nighttime Live Fire Exercise Autonomous Aerial Ammunition ...on May 7, 2024 at 5:02 am
Soaring, a global leader in autonomous heavy lift cargo drones for contested logistics in defense environments, today announced its successful completion ...
- Autonomous Logistics: Marine Corps Advances Drone Resupply Amid Technological Pushon May 7, 2024 at 12:07 am
The U.S. Marine Corps is pressing forward with a bold logistical transformation that will see drones playing an ever-greater role in resupplying troops, particularly in the challenging and vast ...
- The Rumrunner Is a Tiny, Unmanned Plane for Supply Runs in Dangerous Areason May 6, 2024 at 7:44 am
Featuring high-thrust super-short takeoff and landing (SSTOL) capability, a payload capacity of up to 400 pounds, and range of up to 200 miles, RUMRUNNER is a game-changer for military sustainment ...
- AF researchers design, build, fly autonomous aircraft in 24 hourson May 3, 2024 at 12:59 am
The group of officers and innovators, known as Black Phoenix, created a goal for themselves to design, create, build, and fly an unmanned aerial system ... s Autonomy Prime flight flies autonomous ...
- AV Unveils New AI Capability And Autonomy Kit For Unmanned Systems – April 23on May 2, 2024 at 2:07 pm
AeroVironment (AV) has introduced its Autonomy Retrofit Kit (ARK) and AVACORE software demonstrating the company’s commitment to advancing autonomy and machine learning capabilities to ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Autonomous unmanned aircraft
[google_news title=”” keyword=”autonomous unmanned aircraft” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]