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| X-47B lands on Roosevelt. Navy photo |
A third carrier has now conducted flight operations of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D). The tail-less robotic aircraft built by Northrop Grumman conducted flight operations aboard the
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Nov. 10. The aircraft performed touch-and-go maneuvers, flight deck handling drills, arrested landings and catapult launches. Carrier-based tests of the X-47B began in December 2012 with flight deck operations aboard
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Carrier testing resumed in May 2013 aboard
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), where the X-47B completed its first carrier-based catapult launch, followed by its first carrier-based arrested landing in July. (Source:
NNS, 11/10/13)
Gulf Coast note: Two other Northrop Grumman unmanned aerial systems, Fire Scout and Global Hawk, are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
