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X-47B first test flight

Posted by Andrew Van Der Plaats on February 7, 2011 at 1:00pm

America’s fleet of 11 big-deck aircraft carriers just got a lot closer to becoming a lot more dangerous.

On Friday afternoon, Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, a prototype for the Navy’s first carrier-capable killer

drone, flew for the first time from Edwards Air Force Base in California.

 

Killer drone takes off

Tags: navy, x-47b
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Comments

  • Rich Weaver February 13, 2011 at 5:42am
    Son of a B2
  • Joel Venable February 10, 2011 at 12:13pm

    Being a flying wing it should almost definitely have elevons, but I hadn't thought of differential drag for yaw control.  Being that everything flys-by-wire these days nothing should surprise me anymore...

     

    I remember browsing in Jane's aircraft (the big bible!) and was reading about a concept helicopter the size of a C-130.  The rotor was as big as the wings, and it had to use "tipjets" to spin that giant rotor!

  • Joel Venable February 10, 2011 at 9:29am

    WOW... low recovery WOD requirement, half the size of an F/A 18...  I'm guessing it uses vectored thrust to eliminate the need for a tail. 

     

    What's really great is the pilots can get chow while cruising...  ;)

  • Michael Zaffuto February 9, 2011 at 8:28pm

    They think of everything....wings fold! :)

    3692167309?profile=original

  • Joel Venable February 9, 2011 at 8:11pm
    They said unmanned... not autonomous.  Still, that's one heck of an RC airplane!  I hope the wings fold though or otherwise it would be a nightmare for the flight deck handlers...
  • Wouter van Verre February 8, 2011 at 12:09pm

    @Eric

    Maybe you saw the X-47A, which first flew in 2003?

     

    Loved the vid! This really is one cool UAV.

     

  • Eric February 7, 2011 at 4:35pm

    First flight?! I toured Edwards back in November and I swear I saw this land on the runway right in front of me (followed by two 35's!) Wonder why that one didn't count...

  • Jack Crossfire February 7, 2011 at 2:52pm
    You just know it took an eternity of paperwork to get that 1 flight.
  • hamish February 7, 2011 at 2:50pm
    d'ya think its packing an arduPilot ?
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