Although a firm decision by the US Navy to build UCAS-D was only reached a few months ago, the project is well advanced because Northrop are using a design developed during the earlier, cancelled US airforce/navy Joint UCAS programme. Posted on 11/27/2007 12:22:05 PM PST by Tlaloc
The US Navy's new stealth robot carrier plane is now "structurally complete", according to its maker, and is now being fitted out with subsystems while software tests begin. The Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) is expected to make its first flight the year after next, and its first carrier deck landing in 2011.
"Once we get robust flight controls we will begin failure detection and accommodation testing, which is the real key to any unmanned aircraft," said Scott Winship, UCAS-D project chief at Northrop Grumman, talking to Flight International.
Although a firm decision by the US Navy to build UCAS-D was only reached a few months ago, the project is well advanced because Northrop are using a design developed during the earlier, cancelled US airforce/navy Joint UCAS programme.
"We're finishing a programme started seven years ago," Winship told Flight.
The $635m UCAS-D contract will see Northrop produce a brace of aircraft and - if successful - prove that they can operate from US Navy carriers, traditionally considered one of the more demanding flight environments for human-piloted jets.
If the project succeeds, one of the last major piloting feats will have been replicated by robot aircraft. Autonomous systems have already shown that they can perform landing, takeoff, fly missions and even do air to air refuelling.
Human passengers will probably always insist on having a human pilot up front. Anyway, an airliner wouldn't become a lot more efficient for having its pilots removed because it already has to carry hundreds of people. Robot airlines aren't on the cards any time soon.
But a pilot and his accompanying paraphernalia (ejection seat etc) are a noticeable load and a serious limiting factor for military aircraft. The human restricts potential time in the air and maximum G loads as well as payload. There is a real technical case for unmanned combat jets, especially autonomous ones which don't need a high-bandwidth comms link. But few machines get built unless people with money want them; and in this case a lot of the people with the money are pilots and see themselves as warriors. They would lose both identities, conceivably, if autonomous or remotely-operated combat jets became widespread.
UCAS-D has a good chance of succeeding technically - whether or not it will usher in a new dawn remains to be seen. The Flight report is here.
By your command.
But I take it that, for the time being, this is a "robot" plane which will take off from and land on a traditional "people" aircraft carrier?
At any rate, this is as big a development in military history as was the introduction of the original [human-piloted] military airplane in the early part of the 20th century.
I hope we're pursuing it aggressively.
I am sure that a fighter is probably down the list of intended future automated aircraft development, but imagine trying to dogfight in a sky against a fighter jet that is not restricted by G-forces.
Excellent!!!
People used to refuse to get on an elevator without an elevator operator. Who knows, maybe some still do.
As for pilot-less making sense; 1). impossible for terrorist to takeover the cockpit or hi-jack 2). elimination of human error 3). more streamlined and fuel efficient nose on airplane 4). no pilot unions and strikes that hurt airlines 5). no pilot scheduling problems 6). more efficient air traffic and ground control 7). no pilot training 8). no harassment lawsuits from flight attendants getting hit on. 9). more later...
So long, good bye, adios, it's been nice to have known you once...
> ... but imagine trying to dogfight in a sky against a
> fighter jet that is not restricted by G-forces.
You have to do things that take more than 1 second to
respond to, because that’s the prop delay introduced
by having the actual UAV pilot be 4 GEO trips away
by satellite.
If you are dogfighting against a UAV flow under remote
video/visual control, you win, because the remote
pilot’s data is too old.
The UAVs will win dogfights by not getting into them.
I had an idea the other day in regards to reading an article about the lack of new young pilots. What if the pilot wasn’t sitting in the cockpit but was instead sitting in a simulator and was only in control of the aircraft during take off and landing and mid-air crisis type situations via numerous cameras that would feed a panoramic view that the pilot would normally see. The planes mainly fly by auto-pilot now and one pilot sitting in a simulator could be “flying” a number of planes simultaneously and could switch back and forth between them via satellite. It does remove the imperative that the pilot not screw up since his screw up would not result in his/her own death, but.....
“Mustang, this is Ghostrider, requesting flyby.”
Think again. The G force limitations on the UAV are not limited by the human body, but on the structural integrity of the fuselage. The UAV can withstand sustained G forces that would kill a pilot.
The flight attendants need not be human either.
Or else our forward-based AWACs fleets will be converted into flying video arcade rooms, and the entry exams for Boulder and Annapolis will place less emphasis on things like 20/20 vision, and more emphasis on FPS scores.
Add another advantage: no danger from pilots falling asleep on redeye flights.
Oops: Boulder = Colorado Springs.
..completly automatic, nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong...go wrong...
“People used to refuse to get on an elevator without an elevator operator. Who knows, maybe some still do.”
October 8, 1990
THE BUDGET BATTLE; Reporter’s Notebook;
Debate Brings Delay and Disruption
By RICHARD L. BERKE, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
LEAD: The Government is shut down. The election is four weeks away. The President is enraged about the budget. The Congressional elevator operators are disgruntled about working overtime. The weather is unseasonably pleasant.
What would a ticket cost if the humans and controls used by them were removed?
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