X-47B Navy drone completes first ever unmanned carrier landing

[Opmmur]

X-47B Navy drone completes first ever unmanned carrier landing

Nidhi Subbaraman NBC News
4 hours ago

X-47B Navy drone completes first ever unmanned carrier landing - NBC News.com

Video: US Navy releases video as the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System completes its first carrier-based landing on board the USS George H. W. Bush.

The X-47B drone made history Wednesday as the first robot to land itself on the moving flight deck of an aircraft carrier at sea, according to U.S. Navy.

The machine, named "Salty Dog 502," took off from the Naval Air Station Patuxent River on a flight headed to the USS George H. W. Bush, in the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia.

That carrier deck is familiar turf for the drone. On May 14 this year, it executed a first time "catapult takeoff" and landed successfully at Patuxent an hour later.

While it's never attempted a water landing before, the craft performed a carrier-style "arrested landing" at the base in mid-March, a similar maneuver to the one it will execute today. During that dry run, it landed on the runway and hooked a length of cabling, which yanks it — "Top Gun" style — to a short, rapid stop.

Steve Helber / AP
A X47-B Navy drone approaches the deck as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. It is the first landing by a drone on a Navy carrier.

The drone will use GPS and navigation software to land on the aircraft carrier's deck, tackling turbulence and air currents without immediate assistance from a human pilot, wrote Capt. Jaime Engdahl, program manager of the Navy Unmanned Combat System, in a blog post published on Tuesday.

The X-47B is uniquely prepared to handle a landing that's considered among the most difficult for human pilots as well. It carries some of the most sophisticated autonomous programming of any unmanned craft out there today. It's also capable of cool carrier-friendly tricks: Though its wingspan measures 18 meters, the wing tips fold up to make the plane easier to stow.

Video: Ten years of war have given robot developers a chance to refine and improve their bots. Now the robots are finding all sorts of new jobs on the homefront.

The X-47B was made by Northrop Grumman as part of the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. It won't ever be used in military operations but lessons learned in building and testing this model will be carried over to more autonomous drones of the future.

The carrier landing is also the drone's swan song. After the events at sea this week, Salty Dog and its twin — the only two X-47Bs in existence — will be return to Patuxent, be demilitarized, and packed off to the Navy museum.

 

[Opmmur]

After two historic carrier landings, Navy's X-47B drone scrubs a third

Nidhi Subbaraman NBC News
July 11, 2013 at 3:29 PM ET

Steve Helber / AP

A X-47B Navy drone approaches the deck as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. It is the first landing by a drone on a Navy carrier.

The third time was a miss. After two successful landings on an aircraft carrier — including the first ever by an autonomous drone — the X-47B drone "Salty Dog 502" aborted a third landing attempt after one of its three on-board navigation systems failed.

Rich-Joseph Facun / Reuters

An X-47B pilot-less drone combat aircraft comes to a stop after landing on the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia July 10, 2013.

The anomaly was picked up by the functioning two computers, which alerted the crew monitoring the flight. An operator greenlit the backup plan to divert the drone to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, U.S. Navy officials reported Thursday.

At a teleconference, Navy and Northrop Grumman representatives shared details about the first series of landings performed Wednesday by the X-47B "Salty Dog 502" on the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier, off the coast of Virginia.

While operators weren't planning for the glitch that cancelled the third landing, such an abnormality was not atypical for such a test flight, said Rear Admiral Mat Winter, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons. "It's to be expected," he said.

Steve Helber / AP

The landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft means the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the existing fleet.

Except for that one hiccup, the long-anticipated demonstration went off as the 100 or so witnesses on board the aircraft carrier had hoped.

"The ability to bring together the technical and operational capabilities into the carrier environment was nothing short of amazing," Winter said today.

"What struck me was the ease at which everything happened," Capt. Jaime Engdahl, navy unmanned combat air system program manager, added.

One of only two X-47B drones in the program, Salty Dog 502 touched down for the first time at 1:39 p.m. Wednesday, and snagged the third wire that stretched across the deck (one of many possible wires to grab) before coming to a rapid "arrested" stop. Carrier engineers then launched the aircraft once again from the deck, and after circling, the craft performed a second successful landing, this time hooking the second wire.

After a "hot refueling" — in which an aircraft's tank is topped up when it's still operating, another first for the X-47B — the drone was back in the air.

Drones that fly today have an element of independence, or "autonomy," a period in which the machine uses a pre-programmed set of instructions to take off, navigate and land. The X-47B was built to test the viability of maneuvering, operating and landing an autonomous craft while miles out at sea.

The fact the craft doesn't have a tail makes it harder to stabilize and control. Winter said it was a "deliberate decision" to lose the tail early in the design process, to better stress and test the control algorithms that were being developed to launch, fly and land the bird.

One of the two X-47B drones (there's also a "Salty Dog 501") will be launched for more tests on the carrier on Monday, to repeat similar launch and landing maneuvers, but no new objectives are lined up. The

Navy is "assessing other uses" for the two X-47B aircrafts before they are packed away for display in museums.

 

[Opmmur]

Colorado town considers licensing bounty hunters to shoot down drones

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/16/colorado-town-considers-licensing-bounty-hunters-to-shoot-down-drones/#ixzz2ZN2stW6o

The tiny town of Deer Trail, Colo. — barely more than a wide spot on Interstate 70 about 55 miles east of Denver, population 546 — is considering an ordinance that would authorize licensed bounty hunters to shoot down unmanned aircraft violating its “sovereign airspace.”

A six-page petition circulated by a resident says that the threat of surveillance from drones — regardless of who is piloting them — is a threat to “traditional American ideas of Liberty and Freedom” enjoyed by Deer Trail’s “ranchers, farmers, cowboys and Indians, as well as contemporary citizens.”

Therefore, drone incursions are to be seen as acts of war.

Read more: Colorado town considers licensing bounty hunters to shoot down drones | The Daily Caller

According to the proposed ordinance, which will be considered by the town council at its next meeting on Aug. 6, prospective bounty hunters can get a one-year drone-hunting license for $25.

Proposed bounties will be $25 for those turning in the wings or fuselage of downed aircraft and $100 for mostly intact vehicles. To collect the bounty, the wreckage must have “markings, and configuration … consistent with those used by the United States federal government.”

Such “trophies” then become the property of Deer Trail.

The ordinance spells out the rules of engagement. Shooters must use shotguns, 12-gauge or smaller, firing lead, steel or depleted uranium ammunition and they can’t fire on aircraft flying higher than 1,000 (a determination made using a range finder or a best guess). No weapons with rifled barrels allowed, and no tracer rounds.

An “engagement” is limited to three shots at an aircraft every two hours. Being unable to bring down the drone within those guidelines, the petition notes, “demonstrates a lack of proficiency with the weapon.”


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/16/colorado-town-considers-licensing-bounty-hunters-to-shoot-down-drones/#ixzz2ZN32sUX8

Drones can become targets if the bounty hunter feels the aircraft is stalking them, if they maneuver as if they’re following someone, or if they display any weaponry.

But if anyone accidentally shoots down a remote-controlled toy airplane, the proposed ordinance warns, “the owner of the toy remote control aerial vehicle shall be reimbursed for its full cost by the shooter.”

Unless, that is, the toy aircraft was flying over the shooter’s property.

“Throughout its history, the Town of Deer Trail has maintained its independence from all other political entities,” the ordinance reads. “Therefore, the Town of Deer Trail declares its supremacy over its territorial boundaries and, with respect to this ordinance, the supremacy and sovereignty of its airspace and its citizen’s right to defend the airspace of the town, their homes, businesses and related properties from unwanted incursions by unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Phillip Steel, the citizen who circulated the petition, did not return an email from The Daily Caller News Foundation seeking comment, but in an article in the local I-70 Scout newspaper (posted on a town history Facebook page), he says he was motivated by recent revelations about domestic spying by the National Security Agency.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/16/colorado-town-considers-licensing-bounty-hunters-to-shoot-down-drones/#ixzz2ZN387uOc

 

[BlastTyrant]

Thats awesome count me in Colorado!