DWCAce 19 Posted October 13, 2011 From AvWeb's AvFlash Navy's X-47B Drone Flies Gear Up The Navy's project to develop a tailless drone that can take off and land from ships at sea reached a milestone recently when the X-47B test aircraft retracted its landing gear and flew in cruise configuration for the first time. The successful test took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California on September 30, the Navy said this week. "Reaching this critical test point demonstrates the growing maturity of the air system, and its readiness to move to the next phase of flight testing," said Janis Pamiljans, program manager for Northrop Grumman. The project team aims to complete take-offs and landings from an aircraft carrier in 2013. The recent flight was part of an ongoing envelope expansion program for the first of two X-47B aircraft produced by Northrop Grumman for the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration program. Envelope expansion flights are used to demonstrate aircraft performance under a variety of altitude, speed and fuel load conditions, according to Northrop Grumman's news release. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Jug 99 Posted October 13, 2011 OMG! What will happen to the 'Tailhook' convention? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAKO69 186 Posted October 13, 2011 (edited) OMG! What will happen to the 'Tailhook' convention? they won't have to worry 'bout scandles. Edited October 13, 2011 by MAKO69 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAKO69 186 Posted October 13, 2011 "TINMAN" : "EDI is a Warplane. EDI must have targets." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Typhoid 231 Posted October 13, 2011 OMG! What will happen to the 'Tailhook' convention? Somehow, I think the theme of the party will be a little different than it used to be........... "X-47B flies gear up for the first time". So what? What will be impressive is when it lands for the first time gear up. no, wait...................... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted October 14, 2011 Yes, I also was thinking "RC planes in WWII would raise their gear, we've had UAVs for decades that could do this, this is a big fat ZERO." This is a we don't have anything impressive to report but we're scared to have our funding cut so we're going to toot our uber-tiny horn nice and loud release. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
