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InBrief
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH
The US Navys effort to developan unmanned jetcapable of
carrier-based flight operations took a ma-
jor step forward May 14 with thefirst seagoing catapult launch
ofthe Northrop Grumman X-47Bconcept demonstrator aircraft.
We saw history today, RearAdm. Ted Branch, commander ofNaval Air
Forces Atlantic, gushedtoreportersaboardtheaircraftcar-rier George
H.W. Bush after thelaunchoftheunmannedcombatairsystem(UCAS). This
is more thanastep.Thisisastrideintothefuture
of naval aviation.A group of admirals and high-
ranking officials, accompanied byreporters and cameramen,
gath-ered on the carriers flight deck towitness the launch, which
took
place in calm weather on a sunnydayabout100 miles offVirginia
and
Maryland.Thetaillessjet,similarinshapeto
a B-2 bomber but more like anF/A-18 Super Hornet fighter in
size,revved its engine. Control wasswitched from operators on
theflight deck to the control tower inthe island.The launch
captaingavethe traditional salute returnedby theX-47B flashingits
navigation
lights and then the go sign. Thejet roared,the steam catapult
let goand the aircraft took to the air ac-companied by cheering
onlookers.
After two programmed passesover the ship to simulate a
landingapproach, the aircraft flew about150 miles back to the Navys
flight
test center at Patuxent River, Md.You saw the X-47 fly
precisely
where we wanted it to, Rear
Adm.MathiasWinter,theNavysprogramexecutive officer for
unmannedaviation and strike weapons, toldreporters. Today is a
red-letter day
in naval aviation.Engineers will continue to prac-
tice arrested landings at Pax Riverusing the two X-47Bs, said
DonBlottenberger of the Navys UCAS
program. After about10 more land-ings, thefirst carrier
landingwill beattempted later this summer.
The UCAS flight test programshould wrap up by the end of the
year, Blottenberger said, with 2014being spent winding down the
pro-
gram and merging it into the Un-manned Carrier-Launched
Air-borne Surveillance and StrikeSystem(UCLASS)efforttodevelopan
operational carrier-based jetable to perform strike missions.N
Email: [email protected].
Admiral: We Saw
History Today CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS/STAFFUnmanned Takeoff: One of
the US Navys two X-47B unmanned combat aircraft begins
its launch run from a catapult aboard the aircraft carrier
George H.W. Bush off the coast
of Virginia on May 14.
Unmanned USJet Makes FirstCarrier Launch
By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
US NAVY
Aerial view as the X-47B launches.
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WASHINGTON The Obama administrationhas floated the idea of
putting the CIAs con-
troversial targeted killing operations underthe control of the
uniformed armed services.But sources familiar with the
still-classified
program, which uses unmanned aircraft tokill suspected
terrorists in Pakistan and Ye-
men, say the shift would be difficult to imple-ment and would
make little difference.All of the specially outfitted Reaper
and
Predator UAVs used in the CIAs program ac-tually belong to the
US Air Force.
In all, the CIA controls more than 80
re-motelypilotedvehicles,oraboutone-thirdof
the Air Forces fleet of Reapers and
Preda-tors,accordingtoanofficialfamiliarwiththeprogram. That figure
has not previously beendisclosed. The Predators, known as MQ-1s,and
the Reapers, known as MQ-9s, are manu-
factured by General Atomics.Both the CIA and Air Force declined
tocomment for this story.
The CIA has outfitted its Air Force UAVs, allpurchased from
General Atomics, with spe-
cial fecy hasthan t
The whichshorteoperayou cexper
The more shoot
video,just st
maybfor airured sand ev
The
Sources: Armed UAVs Unlikely
To Be Transferred From CIA
