Stealthy UAV Will Operate From Aircraft Carriers

Drawing on its experience in building the high-flying Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $636 million contract this week to develop an unmanned combat aircraft for the US Navy. The company beat out Boeing for the development bid.

Reuters reports the Unmanned Combat Air System CV Demonstration Program calls for the development of a strike fighter-type aircraft, with stealth capabilities. The contract is expected to be completed in September 2013, according to the Navy.

Navy acquisition chief Delores Etter called the award "a significant milestone towards understanding and mastering autonomous and low-observable flight in the maritime environment."

The new UAV will be able to operate from aircraft carriers in the same fashion as conventional fighter aircraft, using catapults for takeoff and arrester-hook landings. The development aircraft will not carry weapons.

Northrop and Boeing earlier worked together on the X-47B UAV, billed as "a transformational, carrier capable, multi-mission, unmanned combat air vehicle" with similar capabilities to the proposed CV. However, the Pentagon scrubbed that program.

Flight tests are to begin in late 2009. Northrop will build two unmanned planes, two mission control centers and a support system for the UAV. (A Global Hawk UAV is shown above.)

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com, www.navy.mil