X-47B makes arrested landing

[sky otter]

oh boy.. oh boy...




Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News   –   2 hrs.
Navy's X-47B drone makes first carrier-style landing
X-47B makes arrested landing
The UFO-shaped X-47B drone performed a first-of-a-kind landing trick that brings it a step closer to use as a carrier-based fighter craft for the U.S. Navy.

On Saturday, the drone made a short-range "arrested landing" on an airstrip at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.

Seconds after touchdown, an extended hook on the craft snagged a length of heavy-duty cabling draped across its landing path. The drone then came to a stop after a brief taxi, "within a few feet of its predicted path," according to Carl Johnson, vice president and Navy UCAS program manager for Northrop Grumman.

This is the first time an unmanned craft has performed such a maneuver, says Northrop Grumman, maker of the X-47B. The experimental craft is the focus of the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle program, or UCAS.

"This precision, shore-based trap by the X-47B puts the UCAS Carrier Demonstration [UCAS-D] program on final approach for a rendezvous with naval aviation history," Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's UCAS program manager, said in a statement


When it comes to drones that can be programmed for tricky flight maneuvers, the X-47B is a tad more sophisticated than the Predator and Global Hawk deployed by the military today. Those drones can be programmed to land themselves, but only when their touchdown target is terra firma. The X-47B will be the U.S. Navy's water baby.

"The peak of skill is among carrier aviators, it's a carrier deck landing," Peter Singer, drone whisperer at the Brookings Institution and author of "Wired for War," told NBC News. "An X-47 takes the human out of it."

The craft will use a similar landing trick when Northrop Grumman and the Navy test it on the limited airstrip aboard an aircraft carrier at sea. That demonstration is currently on the calendar for later this month.



Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/navys-x-47b-drone-makes-first-carrier-style-landing-6C9801125

[deuem]

Wow sky, I like this but with a 14 trillion dollar debt, do we need it? I bet that one test cost more than I make in a life time.

[Anynonmouses]

If you could teach it to deliver beer and pizza or medications for the infirm I'd be in. If all we're doing is investing our resources into another tactical killing or surveillance device I say they can jam it where the sun don't shine.

I have been given no memo on these goings on, and having not been adequately briefed I'm inclined to drink coffee and reject the monstrosity and the dark, seedy crew of slimeballs working on such things, because it's never for good or benevolent reasons we engage in such as this.

Let me know when the belly-bumping high-fiving has concluded so I may resume my regularly scheduled thought patterns...

Peace and Love,
JD

[sky otter]

well when ufo's are sighted ..i guess they can say it's ours...sigh

[burntheships]

This is a milestone in aviation.

Pilots in service, for them to make the mark is also
a must reach goal....to say the least, it is not
an easy feat to accomplish.

Take a peek....

Rock on

[zorgon]

Wow sky, I like this but with a 14 trillion dollar debt,

There IS NO Debt... They just want you to THINK there is. If the Fed Reserve can misplace 9 TRILLION in one fiscal year, and not raise more than a few eyebrows, that tells you all you need to know about the 'debt'

do we need it?

Well a) that X47B was named "Pegasus" by LSWONE's boys at Palmdale and b) those critters will mean we don't need to send pilots into war zones

All we need is geeking kids with joy sticks and tell them where to play the war games

[robomont]

i agree w z on his opinions.
dollars are funny money.
drones will save lives but any time our boys are home from war then the weapons get turned on us.ie drug war.

i sure hope congress cuts to the bone.no wars abroad or at home.

[deuem]

There IS NO Debt... They just want you to THINK there is. If the Fed Reserve can misplace 9 TRILLION in one fiscal year, and not raise more than a few eyebrows, that tells you all you need to know about the 'debt'

I think I would have to be very, very drunk to forget where I put a plie of cash that is as big as a skyscapper?  I see this a lot here. Once any money number gets too large, it gets to be a thing and not money anymore. Each person seems to have his/her money limit as far as understanding it. Then it jumps into another field of the un-known. at some time the number just gets too big for the brain. After all , who can count to 9 trillion? I never did.......Deuem
Deuem

[spacemaverick]

Carrier landing coming up:

http://news.yahoo.com/navy-attempt-1st-unmanned-carrier-landing-093729424.html

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Navy will attempt to land a drone the size of a fighter jet aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time Wednesday, showcasing the military's capability to have a computer program perform one of the most difficult tasks a pilot is asked to do.

This vehicle has always fascinated me.

[robomont]

i thought that happened a few months ago and was a success.