Navy, Northrop Grumman Conduct First Arrested Landing of X-47B

By Danielle Lucey



On 4 May, the U.S. Navy conducted the first fly-in arrested landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator, made by Northrop Grumman. 



The flight out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., was conducted at the base's shore-based catapult and arrested gear complex to test rapid deceleration. The system uses a landing hook that catches a heavy cable in the landing area, just like an aircraft would land at sea. This is the final phase of testing before the aircraft moves onto a carrier for trials later in May. 



"This precision, shore-based trap by the X-47B puts the UCAS Carrier Demonstration [UCAS-D] program on final approach for a rendezvous with naval aviation history," said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's UCAS program manager. "It moves us a critical step closer to proving that unmanned systems can be integrated seamlessly into Navy carrier operations." 



This final phase of testing comes three months after the Navy started its shore-based carrier suitability testing at Patuxent River. Previous tests included precision approaches, touch-and-go landings and precision landings of the X-47B.



"The X-47B air vehicle performs exactly as predicted by the modeling, simulation and surrogate testing we did early in the UCAS-D program," said Carl Johnson, vice president and Navy UCAS program manager for Northrop Grumman. "It takes off, flies and lands within a few feet of its predicted path."