Tag Archives: NAVAIR

Navy Conducts Successful Test of Aerial Refueling with X-47B, UCAS-D Program Ending

Navy Conducts Successful Test of Aerial Refueling with X-47B, UCAS-D Program Ending

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

The Navy successfully tested autonomous aerial refueling for the first time with its Northrop Grumman X-47B test unmanned aerial vehicle on Wednesday, marking the end of the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) told USNI News shortly after the aircraft landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Read More

McCain Weighs in on UCLASS Debate, Current Navy Requirements ‘Strategically Misguided’

McCain Weighs in on UCLASS Debate, Current Navy Requirements ‘Strategically Misguided’

Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Systems Demonstration (UCAS-D). US Navy Photo

Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Systems Demonstration (UCAS-D). US Navy Photo

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is calling on the Department of Defense and the Navy to develop a stealthy and lethal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft, according to a Tuesday letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter obtained by USNI News. Read More

NAVAIR Developing Open Architecture Ground and Air Test Labs

NAVAIR Developing Open Architecture Ground and Air Test Labs

F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Knighthawks of Strike Fighter Attack Squadron (VFA) 136 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on Jan. 30, 2015. US Navy Photo

F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Knighthawks of Strike Fighter Attack Squadron (VFA) 136 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on Jan. 30, 2015. US Navy Photo

CRYSTAL CITY, VA. — The head of the Navy’s aviation system command is working on ways to bring the tenants of the Pentagon’s larger push for open architecture computer systems to the development of new aircraft as well as bringing more open capability to existing systems. Read More

WEST: Bob Work Says UCLASS Development Needs a ‘Joint Perspective’

WEST: Bob Work Says UCLASS Development Needs a ‘Joint Perspective’

An artist's concept of a proposed Lockheed Martin UCLASS design. Lockheed Martin Image

An artist’s concept of a proposed Lockheed Martin UCLASS design. Lockheed Martin Image

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – The first operational unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to be used on the Navy’s aircraft carriers needs to be developed with a “joint perspective,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said during a Keynote speech at WEST 2015 on Tuesday. Read More

Navy Pushes UCLASS Fielding Date, Air Segment Request for Proposal

Navy Pushes UCLASS Fielding Date, Air Segment Request for Proposal

X-47B tail number 501 flies over USS Theodore Roosevelt on Aug. 17, 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

X-47B tail number 501 flies over USS Theodore Roosevelt on Aug. 17, 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

PENTAGON – The Navy has pushed its planned fielding date for its carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from 2020 to 2022 or 2023, a Navy budget official told reporters in a late Monday afternoon briefing on the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request to Congress. Read More

Pentagon Unmanned Review Set to Inform UCLASS Bid

Pentagon Unmanned Review Set to Inform UCLASS Bid

An artist's concept of the Lockheed Martin's bid for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS). Lockheed Martin Image

An artist’s concept of the Lockheed Martin’s bid for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS). Lockheed Martin Image

A previous version of this post misstated the chairman of the Defense Acquisition Board. It is Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Frank Kendall, not vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. James “Sandy” Winnefeld. Winnefeld chairs the Pentagon’s Joint Requirements Oversight Council.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The review of the Pentagon’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) portfolio that stalled the acquisition of the Navy’s first operational carrier-based UAV has completed its early phase, the Navy’s chief acquisition official said on Wednesday. Read More

Navy Could Test Aerial Refueling on X-47B in 2015

Navy Could Test Aerial Refueling on X-47B in 2015

X-47B UCAS. Northrop Grumman Photo

X-47B UCAS. Northrop Grumman Photo

If the Navy can get the resources, it plans to test an aerial refueling capability on its experimental carrier-launched unmanned aerial vehicle, the X-47B, as early as next year, Naval Air Systems Command officials told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More

Compromise Defense Bill Restricts Navy UCLASS Funds

Compromise Defense Bill Restricts Navy UCLASS Funds

X-47B tail number 501 flies over USS Theodore Roosevelt on Aug. 17, 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

X-47B tail number 501 flies over USS Theodore Roosevelt on Aug. 17, 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

The 2015 compromise defense bill, released on Wednesday, imposes restrictions on funding for the Navy’s planned production carrier-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over concerns the platform would lack sufficient stealth, survivability and weapons payload, according to the bill’s language. Read More