US Navy X-47B Robot Fighter Jet Completes First Phase Of Testing

Forbes ^ | 29 June 2012 | Peter Murray

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The Navy’s robotic fighter just got one step closer to earning its wings. The X-47B, an unmanned stealth attack jet, has completed the first major phase of flight testing on its way to become the first aircraft to be able to land and take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier –completely autonomously.

After its first successful flight on February 4, 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base – a short, 29 minute jaunt to 5,000 feet – the X-47B has now climbed to as much as 15,000 feet. The testing, which concluded on May 15, ran the jet through multiple maneuvers that are essential for using an aircraft carrier as its base of operations including extending and retracting a tail hook needed to catch the carrier’s arresting wires upon landing and “touch-and-go” landings.

The testing is a continuation of the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program, a collaboration between the Navy, Northrop Grumman, which built the aircraft, and the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center.

The next phase of the program will be carried out at the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland, to where the X-47B has already been transported (causing some locals to wonder if they’d seen a UFO).

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I think that way about every government weapon system or newer agency now.