Tag Archives: X-47B

Document: SECNAV Mabus' Navy Artificial Intelligence Memo

Document: SECNAV Mabus’ Navy Artificial Intelligence Memo

The following is the June 5, 2015 memo from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford on accelerating artificial intelligence development in the Department of the Navy. Read More

SECNAV Mabus: X-47B Tests Should Continue Without Giving UCLASS Advantage to Northrop Grumman

SECNAV Mabus: X-47B Tests Should Continue Without Giving UCLASS Advantage to Northrop Grumman

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

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he would like to see the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program move forward soon, and he’d like to continue testing the X-47B Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program in the mean time without giving an advantage to builder Northrop Grumman. Read More

SASC Markup Adds $725 Million for 2 New Carrier UAV Prototypes, More X-47B Testing

SASC Markup Adds $725 Million for 2 New Carrier UAV Prototypes, More X-47B Testing

Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

The Senate Armed Services Committee — concerned with the Navy’s direction for its planned unmanned carrier aircraft program — wants the Pentagon to oversee development of two new carrier capable prototype unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and restart testing of the service’s two Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) in a combined $725 million effort, according to a summary of the SASC’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill released Thursday evening. Read More

Forbes Calls on SECNAV Mabus to Extend X-47B Testing

Forbes Calls on SECNAV Mabus to Extend X-47B Testing

A Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) during a 2014 carrier landing test. US Naval Institute Photo

A Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) during a 2014 carrier landing test. US Naval Institute Photo

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to keep the Navy’s two X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) flying instead of sending the two unmanned vehicles to a museum or long term storage, according to a Thursday letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus obtained by USNI News. Read More

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

Document: McCain Letter to SECDEF Carter on UCLASS

Document: McCain Letter to SECDEF Carter on UCLASS

The following is a March 24, 2015 letter from Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) chair Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS). Read More