The U.S. Navy’s latest stealth drone has
completed a series of rigorous summer flight tests – taking it one
step closer to its first automated carrier landing.
Reaching speeds of 180 knots, two
experimental X-47B drones have completed their summer test schedule
to evaluate software and other modifications before the first test
aircraft carrier landing in 2013.
While the X-47B is expected to usher in a
new era of unmanned aircraft, critics have raised concerns over the
lack of human control in increasingly deadly military hardware.
The fighter-sized aircraft features an
innovative, GPS-based navigation and landing system that will enable
it to land autonomously, with precision, on the moving deck of a Navy
aircraft carrier.
In addition to the planned carrier launches
and landings in 2013, the program will also demonstrate the ability
of the X-47B to conduct autonomous aerial refuelling operations in
2014.
The X-47B is a computer-controlled UAS that
takes off, flies a preprogrammed mission, then returns to base in
response to mouse clicks from its mission operator.
The operator actively monitors the aircraft
and responds to air traffic control instructions, but does not ‘fly’
it via a remote stick-and-throttle control the way some unmanned
systems are currently operated.
Unmanned drones have been used to attack
targets with Hellfire missiles for a quite a while in the War on
Terror.
The X-47B, being tested and developed by
Northrop Grumman, would take the idea several steps further.
First, the operational version of the X-47B
would be able to convey a much larger payload in the form of two
2,000-pound JDAMs bombs.
This would allow the operational air craft
to strike larger and more well-protected targets than a Predator with
a Hellfire could.
Second, the operational vehicle would be
able to take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. That means
that it is designed to withstand the corrosive effects of salt water.
It will also be able to land on the air
craft carrier after completing its mission, something that is one of
the most challenging skills a , aviator must learn.
Finally, unlike conventional drones, the
operational version of the will be able to fly autonomously,
without a controller with a joy stick.
That means that the flight path and the
intended target would be preprogrammed into the vehicle and it would
fly on its own to the target, drop its ordinance, and then return.
The aircraft is built stealthy, sort of like
a miniature version of a stealth bomber, so it should be able to
penetrate an , enemy’s air defence system.
Without a pilot, the operational aircraft
will be able to conduct longer missions that would ordinarily be
beyond the endurance of a human being.