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USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH, at sea (NNS) -- The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first-ever carrier-based arrested landing on board USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia July 10. "By evolving and integrating new technology like the X-47B and the unmanned aircraft to follow, carriers will remain relevant throughout their 50-year lifespan," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Today's demonstration was the first time a tailless, unmanned autonomous aircraft landed on a modern aircraft carrier. This test marks an historic event for naval aviation that Navy leaders believe will impact...

X-47B Accomplishes First Ever Carrier Touch and Go aboard CVN 77 Story Number: NNS130517-15Release Date: 5/17/2013 5:11:00 PM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brandon Vinson, USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Public Affairs USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH, At Sea (NNS) -- The Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has begun touch and go landing operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 17. For UCAS-D, this represents the most significant technology maturation of the program. Ship relative navigation and precision touchdown of the X-47B are critical technology elements for all future Unmanned Carrier...

The U.S. Navy is building on the successful first flight of the stealthy, tailless Northrop Grumman X-47B demonstrator as a pivotal step toward the long-held goal of marrying persistent, autonomous unmanned intelligence and strike aircraft with the reach of its fleet of aircraft carriers. “We’re celebrating the centennial of Naval aviation, and if we fast-forward 100 years, then we’ve added three words—unmanned, autonomous and LO [low-observable] relevant,” says Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) project director. The X-47B flight-test program, which began with a 29-min. flight at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Feb. 4 will answer questions...

Northrop Grumman’s X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS-D) demonstrator successfully completed its long-delayed first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif on Feb 4. The stealthy, single-engine UCAS took off early in the afternoon Pacific time and landed some 29 mins later, having achieved an altitude of 5,000-ft. Aimed at gathering air vehicle management system data, the first flight also marks the start of a roughly 50-flight, year-long Block 1 envelope expansion test campaign at Edwards AFB. Initial flight rate is expected to be once per week, rising to twice a week later in 2011. Northrop and U.S. Navy officials passed the...

Industry players have until early May to respond to a U.S. Navy request for information (RFI) for a carrier-based, stealthy, unmanned, strike and surveillance system capable of integrating with manned aircraft as part of a carrier air wing by 2018. The unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (Uclass) RFI calls for a notional system made up of 4-6 autonomously launched and recoverable vehicles to operate in “irregular and hybrid warfare scenarios.” The system must be able to operate from CVN-68 and -78-class carriers, and be capable of being directed from both carrier- and shore-based mission control stations. The stealthy UAV...

The U.S. Navy is planning to demonstrate an armed, sensor-equipped, carrier-based unmanned combat aircraft system (UCAS) by 2018, as a follow-on to carrier-suitability and autonomous aerial-refueling demonstrations planned for completion in 2013. A request for information (RFI) will be released this year, according to Rear Adm. William Shannon, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, speaking Feb. 17 at Aviation Week’s Defense Technology and Requirements conference in Washington. The program could be worth as much as $2 billion, with major funding starting in Fiscal 2013. The RFI will be open to all manufacturers, and not automatically an extension...

Personnel from the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) program team and industry partner Northrop Grumman Corporation are underway with USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) to test the integration of existing ship systems with new systems that will support the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D). This effort will reduce program risk and is one of many steps toward the X-47B's first carrier arrested landing or "trap." The X-47B will be the first unmanned jet aircraft to take off and land aboard an aircraft carrier. With a 62ft wingspan and length of 38ft, the X-47B is about 87 percent...

The U.S. Navy has sped up its efforts to ready its X-47B UCAS (Unmanned Combat Aerial System), for carrier operations. This includes an additional $2 billion for development, in an attempt to have the X-47B demonstrating the ability to regularly operate from a carrier, and perform combat (including reconnaissance and surveillance) operations, within five years. Senior admirals see this as a way to solve several problems. One is the dominance of the U.S. Air Force in UAV operations (with their fleet of Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk UAVs). Then there is the growing cost of the new F-35, that is...