Navy Unmanned Aircraft Sets the Bar
The Navy's X-47B unmanned aircraft has completed its final test aboard 'USS Theodore Roosevelt' (CVN 71) and has returned to its home base at Naval Air Station Patuxent River after eight days at sea
, informs U.S. Naval Air Systems Command. While underway, the X-47B flew in the carrier pattern with manned aircraft for the first time and conducted a total of five catapult launches, four arrestments and nine touch-and-go landings, including a night time shipboard flight deck handling evaluation. "This is another detachment for the record books; all tests were safely and effectively executed," said Capt. Beau Duarte, Navy's Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager. Testing began Aug. 17 when the X-47B performed its initial cooperative launch and recovery cycle with an F/A-18.
Carrier Exercises Tandem Unmanned & Manned Flights
An un-manned X-47B has completed a series of tests, operating safely and seamlessly with manned aircraft from 'USS Theodore Roosevelt' informs the US Navy. Building on lessons learned from its first test period aboard TR in November 2013, the X-47B team is now focused on perfecting deck operations and performing maneuvers with manned aircraft in the flight pattern. "Today we showed that the X-47B could take off, land and fly in the carrier pattern with manned aircraft while maintaining normal flight deck operations," said Capt. Beau Duarte, program manager for the Navy's Unmanned Carrier Aviation office. The first series of manned/unmanned operations began when the ship launched an F/A-18 and an X-47B.
Unmanned Navy Carrier Aircraft Program: Progress Update
One year ago, Sailors watched an unmanned air vehicle take-off from a nuclear-powered carrier flight deck for the first time in naval aviation history, says Capt. "May 14, 2013 was an extraordinary day for the Navy. The crew from USS George H.W. Bush launched the X-47B that morning off the coast of Virginia. The tailless, autonomous unmanned aircraft took to the skies, while the flight crew on deck celebrated this historic achievement. Our Naval Air Forces Commander Vice Adm. David Buss called it “a watershed event” as he watched from the flight deck. He compared this event to aviation pioneer Eugene Ely’s first-ever landing on the deck of a ship in 1911. In July, the UCAS-D team went back to the ship and took testing one step further.
