Preparing to hit the deck: Demo phase revs up for U.S. Navy's UCAS-D program

摘要

Under a dollar635.8 million, six-year contract awarded by the U.S. Navy in August, Northrop Grumman will conduct the first-ever at-sea carrier launch-and-recovery cycles with a tailless, fixed-wing unmanned aerial system. The Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) team at Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., will build two air vehicles for the demonstration, and the program will provide maturation for critical technologies, mitigate the risks involved in integrating a UAS into normal carrier operations and provide a critical mass of knowledge and experience to support an eventual potential acquisition program.