The Drone Jet X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) completed its first ever carrier-based catapult launch from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia. Image © NAVAL news. Watch the video…
Vice Adm. David Buss, commander, Naval Air Forces, the Navy’s “Air Boss,” sad:
“Today we saw a small, but significant pixel in the future picture of our Navy as we begin integration of unmanned systems into arguably the most complex warfighting environment that exists today: the flight deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.”
Matt Funk, lead test engineer for the Navy UCAS program, sad:
“The flight today demonstrated that the X-47B is capable of operation from a carrier, hand-off from one mission control station to another, flight through the national airspace, and recovery at another location without degradation in safety or precision.”
source navair.navy.mil
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