http://www.big3news.net Covering The Stories That Matter Most. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:55:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=442 Covering The Stories That Matter Most. BIG 3 NEWS no Covering The Stories That Matter Most. http://www.big3news.net/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.big3news.net http://www.big3news.net/2011/10/24/u-s-navy-launches-%e2%80%9cnext-century-of-naval-aviation%e2%80%9d-with-unmanned-ufo-like-strike-surveillance-drones/ http://www.big3news.net/2011/10/24/u-s-navy-launches-%e2%80%9cnext-century-of-naval-aviation%e2%80%9d-with-unmanned-ufo-like-strike-surveillance-drones/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:59:55 +0000 Rusty Ray, Executive Editor http://www.big3news.net/?p=8236 http://www.big3news.net/2011/10/24/u-s-navy-launches-%e2%80%9cnext-century-of-naval-aviation%e2%80%9d-with-unmanned-ufo-like-strike-surveillance-drones/feed/ 2 air force,aviation,drones,Navy,Northrop Grumman,surveillance,UFO,unmanned aircraft Listen to preview:     - A computer-controlled unmanned aircraft system developed by a defense contractor for the U.S. Navy reached a major milestone on Sept. 30 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. - The tailless, Listen to preview:     A computer-controlled unmanned aircraft system developed by a defense contractor for the U.S. Navy reached a major milestone on Sept. 30 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The tailless, fighter-sized X-47B aircraft, assembled by Northrop Grumman for the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D), flew for the first time in cruise configuration with its landing gear up. “The U.S. Navy’s UCAS-D program is designed to demonstrate the ability of a tailless, fighter-sized unmanned aircraft to land on and be launched from the flight deck of a Navy aircraft carrier underway at sea, one of the harshest aviation environments known to man,” Northrop Grumman said. The UFO-like aircraft is designed to take off, fly a preprogrammed mission, then return to an aircraft carrier base in response to mouse clicks from its mission operator. “The mission operator monitors the X-47B air vehicle’s operation, but does not actively ‘fly’ it via remote control as is the case for other unmanned systems currently in operation,” said a fact sheet provided by Northrop Grumman. With a wingspan of 62.1 feet and an overall length of 38.2 feet, the high subsonic aircraft’s strike and surveillance capabilities will provide “persistent, penetrating surveillance, and penetrating strike capability in high threat areas,” said the Navy. “The ability to detecting and destroying targets anywhere in the world is essential for the U.S. military,” Northrop Grumman added. The unmanned system was first ordered by the Navy in December 2005. A $635.8 million demonstration contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman, which beat out Boeing, another single-engine jet competitor. President Obama’s FY 2012 budget requested $198.3 million to continue the program started under the Bush Administration, and said the system is an essential first step toward “full-scale” development of a carrier-suitable unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) strike platform. “Last week’s flight gave us our first clean look at the aerodynamic cruise performance of the X-47B air system…and it is proving out all of our predictions,” said Janis Pamilijans, Vice-President and Navy UCAS Program Manager for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector, on Oct. 10. View the complete X-47B Photo Gallery here. The fleet consists of two identical vehicles (AV-1 and AV-2) that have provisions for weapons, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors, although neither weapons nor sensors are included in the demo program. One X-47B aircraft also has necessary hardware to perform aerial refueling using the U.S. Air Force and Navy’s preferred methods, a key “first” for unmanned jet-powered aviation planned for 2014. In Feb. 2011, AV-1 made its first high-speed taxi and flight, and launched what Northrop Grumman called “the next century of naval aviation.” Five months later, a manned surrogate emulating the X-47B achieved another milestone with the first autonomous carrier arrested landing on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower at sea. WATCH MORE FROM NORTHROP GRUMMAN: BIG 3 NEWS no 52 http://www.big3news.net/2009/09/28/dramatic-video-of-royal-navys-largest-ever-cocaine-haul/ http://www.big3news.net/2009/09/28/dramatic-video-of-royal-navys-largest-ever-cocaine-haul/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:31:14 +0000 Jennie, Contributor http://www.big3news.net/?p=1402 http://www.big3news.net/2009/09/28/dramatic-video-of-royal-navys-largest-ever-cocaine-haul/feed/ 0