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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.
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.