Northrop Grumman’s X-47B is one contender to provide new drone aircraft through the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program. (Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman)
The Navy has shown that autonomous aircraft can take off and land on aircraft carriers. But what will those super-drones do?
The X-47B was a fierce-looking piece of the future. The Navy's web-shaped drone demonstrator was the first unmanned aircraft to take off and land on an aircraft carrier autonomously. It seemed to herald a future in which drones potentially could take the place of fighter pilots, fulfilling far-flung advanced missions on their own.
That was then. Last week, Defense News reported that the X-47B's successor will likely be just an aerial re-fueler, rather than an intelligence-reconnaissance drone as envisioned by the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. However, in a Tuesday morning speech unveiling President Obama's 2017 defense budget request, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter didn't say a word about turning the Navy's UCLASS system into a tanker.
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WNU Editor: Congress has been pushing for this drone for a long time .... Congress wants the Pentagon to develop a long-range, deadly superdrone (Washington Post).
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