America’s fleet of supercarriers just got closer to becoming a whole lot more dangerous.
On Friday afternoon Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D), a prototype for the Navy’s first carrier killer drone, flew for the first time from Edwards Air Force Base. The flight lasted 29 minutes, and subsequent flights will be used for envelope expansion (gear up, longer, higher, faster etc.) and other tests.
These very stealthy (radar, acoustic and infrared) UCAS drones are being designed as deep penetrators who will fly right through the most advanced "triple-digit" antiaircraft missile systems like the S-300, while allowing their carriers to remain well outside of missile range.
Technical and command-and-control issues need to be addressed, but war planners have been routinely using them in simulations as part of a carrier strike group. In some they have even swapped out a manned air wing for an all-UCAS wing, reportedly with great success.
Carrier trials due in 2012.
Length: 38 feet
Wingspan: 62 feet
Speed: high subsonic
Payload: 4,500 lbs (internal) (F/A-18E = 9,000 lbs external)
Service Ceiling: over 40,000 feet (low-balling it, no doubt; F/A-18E = 50,000 feet)
Range: 2,100+ nautical miles without refueling (F/A-18E = 520+ nautical miles)
Contractors: Northrop Grumman (primary), Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and GKN Aerospace (UK)
On Friday afternoon Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D), a prototype for the Navy’s first carrier killer drone, flew for the first time from Edwards Air Force Base. The flight lasted 29 minutes, and subsequent flights will be used for envelope expansion (gear up, longer, higher, faster etc.) and other tests.
These very stealthy (radar, acoustic and infrared) UCAS drones are being designed as deep penetrators who will fly right through the most advanced "triple-digit" antiaircraft missile systems like the S-300, while allowing their carriers to remain well outside of missile range.
Technical and command-and-control issues need to be addressed, but war planners have been routinely using them in simulations as part of a carrier strike group. In some they have even swapped out a manned air wing for an all-UCAS wing, reportedly with great success.
Carrier trials due in 2012.
Length: 38 feet
Wingspan: 62 feet
Speed: high subsonic
Payload: 4,500 lbs (internal) (F/A-18E = 9,000 lbs external)
Service Ceiling: over 40,000 feet (low-balling it, no doubt; F/A-18E = 50,000 feet)
Range: 2,100+ nautical miles without refueling (F/A-18E = 520+ nautical miles)
Contractors: Northrop Grumman (primary), Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and GKN Aerospace (UK)
Comment