Second-generation X-47B multi-role drone uses AI for takeoff and landing
25.02.24
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Northrop Grumman has successfully tested the second-generation X-47B multi-role attack unmanned aerial vehicle. It can autonomously take off and land, and also perform some tasks without the need for operator intervention, thanks to the capabilities of the on-board computer.
The X-47 was developed under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency J-UCAS project and is part of the US Navy’s UCAS-D program. The goal of the program is to create an unmanned aircraft capable of taking off from aircraft carriers.
In 2013, the X-47B successfully took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George W. Bush for the first time and then successfully landed on the same deck. In 2014, a video was published of the takeoff and landing on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, as well as a demonstration of the automatic folding of the X-47B wings on the deck after the flight.
The take-off procedure for the X-47B drone is carried out as part of a standard queue, immediately after the F/A-18s take off from the deck. In 2015, the X-47B performed the first-ever fully automatic mid-air refueling procedure.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the X-47B drone:
- Crew: none
- Length: 11.64 m
- Wingspan: 18.92 m
- Height: 3.16 m
- Empty UAV weight: 6350 kg
- Maximum take-off weight: 20215 kg
- Payload weight: 2000 kg
- Engine: 1× Pratt & Whitney F100-220 turbojet
- Thrust: 8074 kg (79.1 kN)
- Maximum speed: 990 km/h
- Cruising speed: 535 km/h
- Range: 3900 km
- Maximum flight altitude ceiling: 12 km
- Armament: 2 x JDAM
- Sensors: EO/IR/SAR/GMTI/ESM/IO
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