World's First Stealth Drone Fighter

FIRST DRONE FIGHTER JET IN THE WORLD - Northrop Grumman's X-47B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle The X-47B is an unmanned combat air system carrier (UCAS) is being developed by Northrop Grumman for the US Navy (USN). The strike fighter size unmanned aircraft is currently in its demonstration phase. The unmanned aircraft was first developed as part of the X-47 program. Air worthiness of the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator was developed at an estimated cost of $813m.

The aircraft performed a successful initial test flight at Patuxent River, Maryland, US, in July 2012. The X-47B is expected to enter active naval service by 2019. Development history of the UCAS-D "The X-47B UCAS was developed by the US Navy as part of the unmanned combat air system carrier demonstration (UCAS-D) program." The X-47B UCAS was developed by the US Navy as part of the unmanned combat air system carrier demonstration (UCAS-D) program.

The program aims to develop and demonstrate which fighter sized tailless unmanned aircraft can be deployed from US Navy aircraft carriers. The X-47B is a variant of Pegasus X-47A, which was developed as a joint USAF and USN program, called J-UCAS, in 2001. The program was funded by the DARPA with Northrop Grumman as the main contractor. In February 2006, however, the UCAS development program was cancelled for separate UAV development programs by both the defense forces.

Development of the X-47B, which had started in June 2005, was temporarily halted following the cancellation. The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) contracted Northrop Grumman for the construction and demonstration of two X-47B aircraft under the unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D) program, in August 2007. The UCAS-D program also aims to pave the way for developing potential future carrier-compatible, unmanned systems with little risk. Companies collaborating on the UCAS-D programme include Rockwell Collins, Goodrich, Lockheed Martin, Parker Aerospace, Honeywell, GKN Aerospace, General Electric (GE), Wind River, Dell, Hamilton Sundstrand, Pratt & Whitney, Eaton and Moog. Design and features of the X-47B The tailless unmanned aircraft is 38.2ft-long and has a wingspan of 62.1ft.

The shape of the aircraft is designed for stealth or low observable relevant requirements. The weapons bay can carry 4,500lb of weapons. Operations of the computer-controlled X-47B UCAS are smart and its flight control system is autonomous. The navigation of the UCAS is controlled by hybrid global positioning system (GPS) vision-based system. The flight path is preprogrammed and its operations are monitored by a mission operator. The UCAS is equipped with electro-optics (EO), infrared (IR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), inverse SAR, ground moving target indicator (GMTI), electronic support measures (ESM) and maritime moving target indicator (MMTI) sensors.

Music: The Shit That Killed Bruce Lee by Dhruva Aliman
https://dhruvaaliman.bandcamp.com/album/the-wolf-and-the-river