A previous Trenton blog post, entitled X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Makes History highlighted the maiden flight of Northrop Grumman’s X-47B on Friday, January 4, 2011. Since then, two more test flights have taken place at Edwards Air Force Base, and while the first flight was focused on getting the aircraft airborne, these subsequent tests are part of a process called “envelope expansion”, in which the intent is to prove that the X-47B can operate in a broader range of altitudes and air speeds.
X-47B Demonstration Flight March 1st 2011
According to Phil Saunders, chief engineer for Northrop Grumman’s Navy UCAS program, envelope expansion is intended to fully characterize the aircraft’s flying qualities and prove that they match the system’s performance requirements and the test team’s predictions that were made during the design process.
But Northrop Grumman didn’t act alone, and to make this project a success they put together a solid industry team consisting of many players, including GKN Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Pratt and Whitney, Eaton, GE, Hamilton Sundstrand, Honeywell, Goodrich, Moog, Parker Aerospace, Rockwell Collins, Dell and Wind River.
For Wind River this was not a recent engagement, as they were selected by Northrop Grumman back in 2008 to provide the device software platform for the X-47B, enabling developers to rapidly create, deploy and maintain critical Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) applications more reliably.
Artist Rendition of X-47B UAV Landing on Carrier Deck
What’s the end game for the X-47B? The goal is to prove that an unmanned, tailless aircraft can be operated from the deck of an aircraft carrier, safely and autonomously, as well as refueling in-flight during mission critical reconnaissance operations – not easy to do, as landing on a carrier deck in bad weather is an extremely difficult task, even for an experienced pilot.
“Launching the X-47B is a major milestone for the Navy, Northrop Grumman, and Wind River, whose technology was important to its success,” said Janis Pamiljans, vice president and UCAS-D program manager for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector.
Trenton salutes the efforts of Wind River and Northrop Grumman in developing the next generation of unmanned aircraft that is designed to increase our operational capability while simultaneously keeping the warfighter out of harms way!
