First X-47b Aircraft Carrier Launch.
Discussion
The First launch of a modern UCAV has taken place this week in the Atlantic.
Here's one video, there are a few other's on youtube too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FMvNrkwmi0
It's of great interest to me personally as I led a study into UAV Ops from QEC a couple of years ago.
Here's one video, there are a few other's on youtube too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FMvNrkwmi0
It's of great interest to me personally as I led a study into UAV Ops from QEC a couple of years ago.
With it being unmanned I can see their being lots of available methods of recovery, but im also interested to know if they have built a system (manual or auto) that is capable of the complexity of landing on a carrier.
ETA - wow this thing has a wingspan twice that of a F16 Fighting Falcon
ETA - wow this thing has a wingspan twice that of a F16 Fighting Falcon
Edited by Odie on Wednesday 15th May 14:40
Eric Mc said:
I still think it would need a normal arrestor system to stop it on the deck.
Most likely, but they have the option to ditch it and recover it, probably not viable due to the complexity of its tech and the cost. Im just not sure how they can have the latency to have the fine control to perform a carrier landing, unless they have a computer that is capable of an automatic carrier landing.Eric Mc said:
I'd be more interested in the landing. Did it land back on or head to a land airfield.
Hi Eric, no this time it flew to land, apparently it's due to do it's first carrier landing in July. Of course landing on a carrier is far more difficult than most other things aviators do.Been away from my desk while composing this so I expect someone's already answered you!
As an addition, about carrier landings, AIUI the F/A18E is not only capable of auto launch, but also auto recovery on a carrier. (This is from memory though, so maybe wrong).
So, the technology would be in place for it. With the jet-blast deflector, maybe as a flying wing design it produces more lift than a standard aircraft and therefore doesn't need to get to such a high speed for flight. This means it won't need such a powerful engine maybe?
So, the technology would be in place for it. With the jet-blast deflector, maybe as a flying wing design it produces more lift than a standard aircraft and therefore doesn't need to get to such a high speed for flight. This means it won't need such a powerful engine maybe?
Mojocvh said:
Any ideas of cost yet?
This'll get your blood boiling Mojocvh, it's a demonstrator, contract was awarded to NG by the US navy for $640m'ish, and those costs have since grown to $813m.They've only built 2 though so the unit costs are horrendous.
However, when they put such a system into production it'll costs similar to any fighter/ground attack airframe I'd have thought, without quite so high pilot training costs.
These things are now designed around autonomy, they are able to react to given situations and only need a man-in-the-loop to engage etc. You can have squadrons of them over the battlespace 24/7, with other designated to re-fuel as necessary. They'd only ever need to land to re-arm. So with that in mind, for a constant presence in a hostile environment, they're priceless.
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