Gerrit Everson News

Unmanned Aircraft Taxies on US Aircraft Carrier

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator aircraft recently taxied on flight deck of 'USS Harry S. Truman'. During the test phase, UCAS deck operators used an arm-mounted control display unit (CDU) to remotely control the aircraft. Gerrit Everson, one of the operators who controlled the X-47B, said the UCAS demonstrator displayed excellent integration with Truman's flight deck. "With the CDU, we followed the aircraft director's signals to move the aircraft left or right, over the arresting wire, to and from the catapults and to various spotting positions," said Everson. Lt. Cmdr.