Article Posted on : - Jul 06, 2011

X-47B UCAS. Photo: Northrop Grumman.

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND (BNS): The US Navy and Northrop Grumman Corporation have successfully completed a demonstration of the ship-based software and systems that will allow the X-47B unmanned air vehicle to operate from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The test, conducted July 2 in the western Atlantic with the Navy carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN-69), culminated with several successful launches and recoveries of a manned surrogate aircraft equipped with X-47B precision navigation control software.

"This manned surrogate test event is a significant and critical step toward landing the X-47B on the carrier deck in 2013," Capt. Jaime Engdahl, US Navy, program manager, Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS), was quoted as saying in a Northrop Grumman news release.

"It represents the first end-to-end test of the hardware and software systems that will eventually allow unmanned systems to integrate safely and successfully with all aspects of carrier operations," he added.

Northrop Grumman is US Navy's prime contractor for the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. A Navy/Northrop Grumman test team conducted first flight of the X-47B in February.

The US Navy awarded the UCAS-D prime contract to Northrop Grumman in August 2007. The contract calls for the development and flight testing of two strike-fighter-sized X-47B unmanned aircraft. In 2013, the programme is scheduled to demonstrate the first carrier launches and recoveries by a tailless, unmanned aircraft. Autonomous aerial refueling demonstrations are planned for 2014.