| Dec 11, 2012 | |
US Navy's X-47B is the world's first unmanned robot aircraft piloted by artificial intelligence (w/video) |
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| (Nanowerk News) The US Navy is testing a stealth drone set to be the world's first unmanned, robot aircraft piloted by artificial intelligence rather than a remote human operator. | |
| At the end of November, Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy have conducted the Navy's first catapult launch of an unmanned system using the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator. | |
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| In preparation for the first catapult launch of the U.S. Navy's X-47B unmanned aircraft, a flight deck director - aka "yellow shirt" - and a deck operator using Northrop Grumman's wireless, handheld Control Display Unit guide the aircraft into position on a shore-based catapult at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. | |
| The test was conducted today at a shore-based catapult facility at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. It marks the first of several shore-based catapult-to-flight tests that will be performed before the Navy's UCAS Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program catapult launches the X-47B from a ship. | |
| Northrop Grumman is the Navy's prime contractor for the UCAS-D program. | |
| "Today's successful launch is another critical milestone in the carrier-suitability testing phase of the UCAS-D program," said Mike Mackey, Northrop Grumman's UCAS-D program director. "It also provides another confidence-building step toward our rendezvous with history next year." | |
| Following the catapult launch, the X-47B conducted a test flight over Chesapeake Bay near Patuxent River. The flight included several maneuvers designed to simulate tasks that the aircraft will have to perform when it lands on a ship, including flying in a typical ship holding pattern, and executing a carrier approach flight profile. The flight also allowed the test team to gather precision navigation data associated with each of those maneuvers. | |
| According to Daryl Martis, Northrop Grumman's UCAS-D flight test director, the catapult event was significant for another reason: "Today's launch provided our team with another opportunity to demonstrate the precision operation of the Northrop Grumman-developed Control Display Unit [CDU], one of the key enablers of future flight deck operations for the X-47B," he said. | |
| The CDU is a wireless, arm-mounted controller that will allow a flight deck operator to control and maneuver the X-47B on the flight deck, including moving it into the catapult, disengaging it from the carrier's arresting wires and moving it quickly out of the landing area. | |
| Over the next few weeks, the UCAS-D program expects to conduct several shore-based catapults at Patuxent River. On Nov. 26, an X-47B was hoisted aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Va. to begin a series of deck handling trials. The trials, expected to run through mid December, will be used to evaluate the performance of the CDU in an actual carrier environment. | |
| In 2013, the program plans to demonstrate the ability of an X-47B to operate from a Navy aircraft carrier, including launch, recovery and air traffic control operations. The program will also mature technologies required for potential future Navy unmanned air system programs. | |
| Watch a video of a test flight of the X-47B during its air worthiness test phase: | |
| Source: Northrop Grumman |
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