Defense Technology International - December 2007 - (Page 46)

SCOTT WINSHIP FIRST PERSON THE X-47 FILES Northrop Grumman and its partners are building two X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) prototypes for the U.S. Navy. The challenge is to accomplish by 2011 a trifecta of ﬁrsts: the ﬁrst tailless aircraft, the ﬁrst stealth-conﬁgured aircraft and the ﬁrst unmanned aircraft to land on a carrier. Along with that comes the challenge of managing an unmanned aircraft on the carrier deck, a tight and unforgiving environment where, until now, every vehicle has been controlled by human hand signals. Northrop Grumman’s Scott Winship—along with Bob Work and Tom Ehrhard of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments—has become an advocate for a revolutionary change in carrier-based airpower, using the UCAS’s range, endurance and unescorted 24-hr. survivability, in conjunction with land-based tankers, to provide persistent ﬁrepower over a target from thousands of miles away. The “chainsaw,” as analysts dub the stream of UCAV sorties, becomes more powerful as the carrier closes the distance to the target. Winship spoke with Defense Technology International Editor-inChief Bill Sweetman about the technology, theory and doctrine behind the X-47B. Defense Technology International: Update us on where the program’s headed. Winship: We were awarded the contract in August, on time. Since then we’ve had multiple sets of technology integration meetings. We’ve had a review of requirements and those are understood. There have been no changes in the Navy’s objectives or our proposal. The aircraft is out of its jigs. She’s 100% structurally complete, and we are now stu ng the systems into the airframe. She’s skinned, and the fuel tanks are in. And we have run the ﬁrst set of ﬂight-control software. We’ve taken a lot of viliﬁcation from people who don’t understand what we’ve been doing. [Boeing considered a protest, claiming Northrop Grumman’s bid was unrealistically low. -Ed.] Our proposal was to ﬁnish a program that started seven years ago. The Navy wants it done on time, and they are clear with us about what they want. Between you, me and the gatepost, that’s a new way of doing things for the Navy. We are due to fly in November 2009. It is slow because the funding is slow—we’re on a pretty tight leash. Next year, you’ll see it start to taxi. But the checkout requirements are substantial: Before we go to the carrier, we have to do a full loads test on [the prototype] AV-1. What are the main risk areas and challenges? Most of the technologies are based on stu that already exists. The engine, the ﬂight-control system, the pieces and parts are all based on legacy hardware. There’s little that is brand new, leap-of-faith, other than the di culties of building and ﬂying any airplane for the ﬁrst time. 46 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2007 NORTHROP GRUMMAN What was the key to winning? Our analysis showed a while ago that a refuelable, carrier-capable UCAV was a world-beater in the wargames. So we stuck to a carrier-suitable design in J-UCAS, and [in the UCAS-D competition] we turned that into a cost-and-risk advantage, because the Air Force had paid for the early part of the Navy program through J-UCAS. We had built a joint program. We took beatings from the stealth community because the wing is cranked. It’s a hit on signature but provides more robust handling. We had extra weight because we use metallics, since the Navy does not believe in composites. If the Navy had walked away we’d have had egg on our faces. Does the ﬂying wing deliver the all-aspect, wideband low observability (LO) that the mission needs? Yes, and its being unmanned allows a tailless beast to come on board the carrier. It’s an intersection of technology. On the A-12, the tailless carrier attack jet canceled in 1991, vision over the nose was hard to get. The controls were heavy and complex. We have a ﬂaperon, an aileron and a spoiler—that’s it. It sits at 140 kt. and doesn’t care about vision over the nose. www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Defense Technology International - December 2007

Defense Technology International - December 2007 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch BrahMos: Ramjet Ship Killer r-e-s-p-e-c-t Deja Vu Trump Card Dubai Demos Agile Helos Joint Force Online Charge UGVs Creep, Crawl to Victory Sweet Ride Fast, Lethal Ship Defense Networking Stealth: Why Raptors Can't Talk The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - December 2007

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