Navy demonstrates UCAS-D software

05/07/11 By Zach Rosenberg SOURCE:Flight International

The US Navy has landed an aircraft using software for the Northrop Grumman unmanned combat air system demonstration (UCAS-D), due to start flying onto aircraft carriers in 2013.

A US Navy F/A-18D, using software developed for UCAS-D, made several approaches and at least one full-stop landing on the USS Eisenhower, a Nimitz-class carrier. Special equipment was installed on the carrier last year to transmit precision GPS information to the aircraft and control consoles in a squadron ready room. The landing signal officer (LSO), who normally relays voice and visual commands to approaching pilots, maintains his advisory role.

Trials of equipment not necessary for landing were also tested by fly-bys in a modified King Air, which flew over the Eisenhower but did not touch down.

"Using a manned surrogate platform to test the unmanned systems avionics and software gives us an extra layer of safety as we test the X-47B software to ensure that it responds correctly and safely to different flight conditions," said Glenn Colby, Naval Air Systems Command aviation/ship integration lead.

Northrop Grumman's UCAS-D is known formally as the X-47B; the 'A' model was developed for a cancelled Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA) program, which resulted in both the X-47 and the Boeing X-45.