The X-47B, known as Salty Dog 502, was temporarily at Wallops following
two successful arrested landings on USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) July
10. The unmanned aircraft diverted to the NASA facility on the third
landing attempt when a minor error was detected in one of its three
navigation computers.
“This was the first time the X-47B was operated at a divert site
and proved to be a great real-time learning event for the test team,”
said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, Navy UCAS program manager. “Our team
worked closely with NASA personnel over the past few weeks to coordinate
the return flight to Pax River.”
The two X-47B air vehicles will reside at Patuxent River while the Navy
UCAS program continues to assess potential opportunities for additional
test operations here and at-sea. These efforts will focus on reducing
risks for the follow-on Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance
and Strike (UCLASS) program and help the Navy to better understand how
to operate unmanned systems of this size in the areas of research and
development, said Rear Adm. Mat Winter, who oversees the Program Executive
Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons.
To date, the N-UCAS program has conducted a total of sixteen precision
approaches to the carrier flight deck, including five planned tests
of X-47B wave-off functions, nine touch-and-go landings, two arrested
landings and three catapult launches during three at-sea evolutions
in an eight-month period.
From: NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND |
