SAN DIEGO, 6 Aug. 2007. The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a six-year, $635.8 million contract to conduct the first ever at-sea carrier launches and recoveries with a fixed-wing unmanned air system (UAS), the X-47B.
The Navy's program, known as the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D), will demonstrate the capability of an autonomous, low-observable air vehicle.
Northrop Grumman will build for the Navy two air vehicles and conduct technology maturation activities. The first air vehicle is scheduled to fly in late 2009 and will begin a series of detailed flight envelope and land-based carrier integration and qualification events beginning in 2010. The first at-sea carrier landings are planned for late 2011 with follow-on analysis and program completion by 2013.
The X-47B air vehicles are being assembled in Palmdale, Calif., by a world-class industrial team that includes Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, GKN Aerospace, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Eaton Aerospace, Moog Inc., Wind River, Goodrich, Parker Aerospace, Dell, Hamilton Sundstrand, and Rockwell Collins.
The X-47B is the latest addition to a growing family of systems developed by Northrop Grumman.
