Northrop Grumman X-47B UCAS-D

[seruriermarshal]

Another ;D

 

[bobbymike]

http://www.au.af.mil/au/afri/aspj/digital/pdf/articles/2014-May-Jun/F-Byrnes.pdf?source=GovD

Dog fighting drone wave of the future

 

[sublight_]

http://www.au.af.mil/au/afri/aspj/digital/pdf/articles/2014-May-Jun/F-Byrnes.pdf?source=GovD

Dog fighting drone wave of the future

The most important admission of the article:

Deliberately ignoring tactical machine autonomy may do little to slow its arrival, and for the Air Force, the most proximate threat to resistance may not come from foreign entities but from within the joint team. The US Navy, whose institutional future is tied to its ships rather than what flies off their decks, has outshined its sister services in advancing UAV technology. Common GCS designs, X-47B, and recently opened competition for the unmanned carrier-launched air surveillance and strike system (that awarded four $15 million contracts) show that the Navy is incrementally maturing the technology and concepts.
That service (Navy) will soon have far more impressive UAVs than the Air Force. We might find ourselves right back in the days of acquiescing to the purchase and rebranding of a Navy plane, as with the F-4.

 

[sferrin]

Except that the X-47B is going nowhere. It won't be part of UCLASS as that requirement has already been watered down to the point that an X-47B UCAV would be overkill and would not win.

 

[donnage99]

Last time I heard UCLASS is tomcat sized, possibly twin engined. That was a few months ago. Unless requirements changed again since then.

 

[Dragon029]

Last time I heard UCLASS is tomcat sized, possibly twin engined. That was a few months ago. Unless requirements changed again since then.

Likewise, last I'd heard they'd gone come to their senses and reverted to the larger and longer-ranged original (or similar) capabilities requirement.

 

[Hot Breath]

That service (Navy) will soon have far more impressive UAVs than the Air Force. We might find ourselves right back in the days of acquiescing to the purchase and rebranding of a Navy plane, as with the F-4.[/i]

And this is a problem, why? The F-4 turned out a pretty good buy, as did the A-7. Perhaps the USAF should buy more Navy aircraft?

 

[bobbymike]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/08/x-47b-drone-manned-f-18-take-off-land-together-in-historic-test/

 

[fightingirish]

X-47B UCAS-D & F/A-18 combined operations onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)Video:

http://youtu.be/n56_H9KN7eI

http://youtu.be/n56_H9KN7eI

Sources:
http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1942
http://snafu-solomon.blogspot.de/2014/08/x-47-operating-with-super-hornets.html

 

[sferrin]

What was up with the arresting cable there? Usually they retract on their own don't they?

 

[fightingirish]

IMHO the arresting cable wasn't fully retreated this time, so the deck personnel could check it for any harms before the next trap landing.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Lookig forward to it!!!!! B)

http://airshowstuff.com/v4/2015/us-navy-blue-angels-will-transition-to-unmanned-aircraft-for-2018-season/

 

[bobbymike]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/04/robot-to-get-tanked-x-47b-drone-set-for-refueling-test-tomorrow/?utm_campaign=snsdemo&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=snsanalytics

Hopefully there is video released really interested to see this.

 

[seruriermarshal]

A X-47B during a March 2015 test flight

 

[bring_it_on]

Thursday: Wednesday afternoon, the X-47B successfully hooked up with the tanker. The actual transfer of fuel still hasn’t happened, but Duarte wanted to do analysis of the hook-up first.

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/04/robot-to-get-tanked-x-47b-drone-set-for-refueling-test-tomorrow/

 

[sferrin]

Now that it's landed and taken off from a carrier, and done a mid-air hookup, we can throw it in the garbage. Wouldn't want to build on that success or anything.

 

[bring_it_on]

Does anyone know where the optical sensor is located?

 

[Flyaway]

Now that it's landed and taken off from a carrier, and done a mid-air hookup, we can throw it in the garbage. Wouldn't want to build on that success or anything.

Not really if NG wins the contract all this will go to good use.

 

[sublight_]

Now that it's landed and taken off from a carrier, and done a mid-air hookup, we can throw it in the garbage. Wouldn't want to build on that success or anything.

Not really if NG wins the contract all this will go to good use.

Not if somebody in Congress has already decided the Navy will have to use something the Air Force has already paid for that Boeing has built.

 

[Flyaway]

Now that it's landed and taken off from a carrier, and done a mid-air hookup, we can throw it in the garbage. Wouldn't want to build on that success or anything.

Not really if NG wins the contract all this will go to good use.

Not if somebody in Congress has already decided the Navy will have to use something the Air Force has already paid for that Boeing has built.

Sounds like AW might be over-speculating there.

 

[bring_it_on]

Well, It was a nice journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE2T-63yMvA

 

[sferrin]

Now that it's landed and taken off from a carrier, and done a mid-air hookup, we can throw it in the garbage. Wouldn't want to build on that success or anything.

Not really if NG wins the contract all this will go to good use.

The UCLASS requirements have changed so much I don't know how much of what the X-47B has collected would even be relevant.

 

[flateric]

"Seen above the Chesapeake: The X-47B successfully engages the refueling drogue of an Omega K-707 tanker yesterday afternoon. Next up: first-ever unmanned aerial refueling."

 

[fightingirish]

The U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman X-47B ended its run as a demonstrator on April 22 by completing the first autonomous aerial refueling of an unmanned aircraft. The tailless, fighter-sized drone received two tons of fuel from an Omega Aerial Refueling Services Boeing K-707 tanker, the Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) announced. [...]


Source: ainonline.com: X-47B Accomplishes First Unmanned Aerial Refueling Mission

 

[Creative]

http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=5880

 

[bring_it_on]

Lawmakers Have Not Been Briefed On UCLASS, Call For Requirements Doc Submission This Summer - Insidefense

House authorizers have not been briefed by the Pentagon on multiple studies concerning the Navy's first unmanned combat aircraft program and are directing the service to submit a requirements document for the program this summer.
There are a "number of options" on where the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike program can go and the committee is waiting on the Office of the Secretary of Defense's overarching intelligence, surveillance and strike portfolio review, a committee aide said April 22.
The House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee's mark of the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill mandates the Navy submit a capabilities development document for UCLASS by Aug. 31.
If the service misses the deadline, the committee requests a brief by no later than Sept. 1.
At a minimum, the brief should include a schedule for holding a milestone B review; an updated cost estimate; plans for new preliminary design reviews; and what consideration is being given to an evolutionary acquisition approach.
"We just want to understand where the department is going so that we can better inform our legislation as we go through conference, which will typically happen around that time," a committee aide said.
Further, an influential senator is concerned about the current requirements the Navy has proposed for the UCLASS platform -- its first unmanned combat aircraft program -- and requests the service extend the use of another remotely piloted system, according to a recent letter.
On March 24, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, stating the Navy has placed a disproportionate emphasis on unrefueled endurance to enable sustained intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to the carrier strike group.
This plan "would result in an aircraft design with serious deficiencies in both long-term survivability and its internal payload capacity," McCain's letter reads. "I would encourage you to ensure that the Navy's first unmanned combat aircraft is capable of both providing persistent ISR and conducting strike missions from the carrier at standoff distances in contested environments." -- Lee Hudson

 

[bring_it_on]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOU9iJZuoFc

 

[red admiral]

Almost spoked the drogue from that video. Maybe some odd bow wave from the forebody.

Surprised to not be able to see any control deflections

 

[Flyaway]

The X-47’s Missing Link.

Did they skip a step in the UAV test program, or is somebody hiding something?

Read more: http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/x-47-missing-link-180955249/#TdIdiuwqyAxTvYks.99

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/auvsi-future-uclass-requirements-pose-questions-on-worth-of-411862/

 

[sferrin]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/auvsi-future-uclass-requirements-pose-questions-on-worth-of-411862/

"The GAO says that if the final UCLASS requirements emphasise a strike role with limited surveillance, the navy will likely need to "revisit its understanding of available resources in the areas of design knowledge, funding, and technologies" before awarding an air system development contract."

That doesn't even make sense. Sounds more like a, "if you decide you want to drop bombs we're going to hassle you".

 

[bobbymike]

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1891

The Navy has decided to hold off sending its X-47B combat drones to an aviation museum. For now, the Northrop Grumman aircraft will be kept in flying condition pending high-level decisions on how to move forward.

“The Navy is examining a range of potential follow-on activities involving the X-47B air vehicles,” Navy Capt. Beau Duarte, program manager for unmanned carrier aviation, told National Defense in a statement.

Duarte in April broke the news that the Navy would donate to a museum or mothball the carrier drones — dubbed Salty Dog 501 and Salty Dog 502 — even after a series of successful at-sea tests. The thinking at the time was that there was no further use for the aircraft although the Navy would continue to study the test data with an eye toward a future new drone program

 

[fredymac]

Northrop put out a video reminding the Navy they need to decide what they're going to do with these things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE8Nmuoy0vE

 

[sferrin]

Sure glad we scrapped the X-47B.

Photos: China’s Sharp Sword Carrier-Based Stealth Drone to Enter Service by End of Year

"China’s new carrier-based drone, dubbed the Sharp Sword, will appear in the October 1 National Day parade in Beijing and is expected to enter service before the end of the year.

Unnamed sources in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy told the South China Morning Post recently that final preparations were being made for the Sharp Sword drone to be commissioned before the end of the year."

 

[rooster]

Sure glad we scrapped the X-47B.

Photos: China’s Sharp Sword Carrier-Based Stealth Drone to Enter Service by End of Year

"China’s new carrier-based drone, dubbed the Sharp Sword, will appear in the October 1 National Day parade in Beijing and is expected to enter service before the end of the year.

Unnamed sources in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy told the South China Morning Post recently that final preparations were being made for the Sharp Sword drone to be commissioned before the end of the year."

Allegedly the X-47 wasn't stealthy enough for the blue water boys and girls. But yet the Superhornet is...?

 

[flateric]

Sure glad we scrapped the X-47B.

Photos: China’s Sharp Sword Carrier-Based Stealth Drone to Enter Service by End of Year

"China’s new carrier-based drone, dubbed the Sharp Sword, will appear in the October 1 National Day parade in Beijing and is expected to enter service before the end of the year.

Sputnik and SCMP. Two very reputable sources.

 

[aonestudio]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1380476182408364033

View: https://twitter.com/northropgrumman/status/1380476182408364033

 

[tequilashooter]

So X-47B testing again?

 

[Sundog]

So X-47B testing again?

I doubt it's about testing the X-47B. They probably have all of the data they need from the original flight tests. They're probably just using it to develop new autonomous and other systems that will be used on future designs.

 

[Cjc]

Sure glad we scrapped the X-47B.

Photos: China’s Sharp Sword Carrier-Based Stealth Drone to Enter Service by End of Year

"China’s new carrier-based drone, dubbed the Sharp Sword, will appear in the October 1 National Day parade in Beijing and is expected to enter service before the end of the year.

Unnamed sources in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy told the South China Morning Post recently that final preparations were being made for the Sharp Sword drone to be commissioned before the end of the year."

The fact that both the airforce and the navy both didn't want this aircraft really have no idea what the hell there even doing. i mean they do, protect there jobs, sense most airforce generals and admirals air former poliets, not get the best capability for the best price, seriously the x-47 blows the f-35 away in both internal capacity and range, probably stelth as well consdering how small it is, for far less money.