Posted on 02/07/2011 10:28:54 AM PST by mandaladon
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A robotic, bat-winged bomber designed to take off from a US aircraft carrier has passed its first test in a debut flight in California, the US Navy said.
The X-47B jet, which looks like a smaller version of the B-2 stealth bomber, stayed in the air for 29 minutes and climbed to 5,000 feet in a test flight on Friday at Edwards Air Force Base, according to the Navy and defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
Military leaders see the plane as part of a new generation of drones that would be able to evade radar and fly at much faster speeds than the current fleet of propeller-driven Predators and Reapers used in the war in Afghanistan.
“Today we got a glimpse towards the future as the Navy?s first-ever tailless, jet-powered unmanned aircraft took to the skies,” Captain Jaime Engdahl, a program manager for the warplane, said in a statement.
Northrop is building the navy bomber under a $636 million contract awarded in 2007.
With no pilot on board, the experimental aircraft was operated by a joint Navy and Northrop team on the ground.
The plane “flew a racetrack pattern over the dry lake bed with standard-rate turns,” the Navy said.
It will be years before the X-47B joins the naval air fleet, with the first tests on a carrier scheduled for 2013, Northrop said in a release.
(Excerpt) Read more at teapartytribune.com ...
Got Specs?.............
ping
As a retired USN fixed-wing carrier pilot I must say that I cannot imagine how this admittedly very cool aircraft is going to be integrated into cyclic (normal) air ops onboard a carrier.
You can find some specs here.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-47-specs.htm
Yeah, but if we told ya, we’d have to kill ya.
X-47B Specifications
Wingspan......................................62.1 ft
Length...........................................38.2 ft
Altitude..........................................> 40,000 ft
Range............................................> 2,100 nm
Top Speed.....................................High subsonic
PowerPlant....................................Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U System Provisions
Autonomous Aerial Refueling........Probe & Drogue (USN) Boom Receptacle (USAF)
Weapons Bays..............................4,500 lb
Sensors.........................................EO / IR / SAR / ISAR / GMTI / MMTI / ESM
http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/nucasx47b/index.html
I don't like the idea of this regime getting any new tech.
Thanks!...............
Normal air ops consist of pilot and crew training, plus preparing for and returning from deployment, right? The drones won’t need real-time pilot training; simulators will keep their guys up to snuff. The maintenence crews will also have a less demanding job, needing less integration into the flight ops.
Of course, as a former non-AV deck swabbie, I could be wrong!
8^)
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/06/2011-02-06_navy_unveils_new_batwinged_stealth_bomber_unmanned_x47b_is_militarys_deadliest_n.html?r=news/national
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Thanks! I was thinking more like normal day-to-day launches and recoveries. Having written the daily flight schedule for a Nimitz-class carrier, I’m pretty up to speed (well, used to be) on the demands of cyclic ops. For instance, the carrier can’t constantly be turned ‘into the wind’ for launches and recoveries - it has to proceed downwind sometimes. But I digress - still a very cool concept.
Blended Wing Body without any verticals...
Center section is a Low Aspect Ratio Delta with High Aspect Ratio Wing Sprouts. The best of both worlds......
Then the thought of Obama with his hands on them chills me to the bone.
It really needs to have a little red light going back and forth in the “cockpit” window.
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