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
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
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
The following is an April 30, 2015 letter from Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus asking the Navy to consider additional testing for the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D). Read More
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
A X-47B during a March 2015 test flight. US Navy Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — There are no plans to extend the testing for its Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program after this month’s planned autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) tests, Naval Air Systems Command officials said on Tuesday. Read More
Northrop Grumman’s X-47B flies over USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 14, 2013. US Naval Institute Photo
A test to prove an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be refueled in flight could happen by the end of this month, officials with Naval Air Systems Command told USNI News on Monday. Read More
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
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
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
