The UCAS Aircraft Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) team proved the ability of the handheld control display unit (CDU) to operate the thrust of the aircraft’s Pratt &Whitney F100-220U engine; to roll the aircraft forward, brake and stop; to use the nose wheel steering to execute precision turns; and to maneuver the aircraft into a catapult or out of the landing area following a mock carrier landing. The operation of the CDUwill be validated in an actual carrier environment later this year.
Northrop Grumman is the Navy’s UCAS-D prime contractor.In 2013, the program plans to demonstrate the ability of an X-47B to safely operate from an aircraft carrier, including launch, recovery, and air traffic control operations. According to the Navy, the X-47B’s aircraft carrier takeoff gross weight is approximately 44,500 pounds.
Some folks in the Washington, D.C., area are buzzing about what they though was a UFO atop a flatbed truck on the Capitol Beltway.
Turns out the disc-shaped object was just a run-of-the-mill military drone.
MyFoxDC reports that what drivers saw—and some photographed—around 11 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 270, and then later on Interstate 495, was an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System being transported from Edwards Air Force Base in California to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.
During its travels through the D.C. area, local station WTOP reported a flurry of activity on Twitter about the strange-looking object.
This not the first time a drone was mistaken for something alien. Last year, a drone being transported by flatbed to Pax River for practicing aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings was also mistaken for a UFO, the Daily Caller reported.
High-definition version of Northrop Grumman's video or the Feb 4, 2011 first flight of the US Navy's X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator at Edwards AFB. California.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire