Philip Smart | Adelaide
Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Systems Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has become the first unmanned aircraft in history to refuel in flight.
On April 22 the X-47B performed a close formation flight rendezvous with an Omega K-707 tanker aircraft over Chesapeake Bay, near Washington DC.
Upon clearance from the tanker crew, the X-47B manoeuvred into position behind the K-707 and successfully engaged the vehicle’s probe with the tanker’s trailing refuelling drogue.
On completion of the air-to-air refuelling (AAR), the X-47B autonomously disengaged the drogue and manoeuvred away from the tanker before returning to base.
"The AAR system and X-47B both performed as expected,” said Pablo Gonzalez, UCAS-D program manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.
“While we would certainly benefit from additional probe and drogue flight testing, we have reached a tipping point at which AAR is now feasible."
The US Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager, Captain Beau Darte, said the successful test was one more step towards integrating unmanned vehicles in to normal operations.
"AAR testing with the X-47B helps solidify the concept that future unmanned aircraft can perform standard missions like aerial refuelling and operate seamlessly with manned aircraft as part of the Carrier Air Wing," he said.
The X-47B is a tailless, strike fighter-sized unmanned aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman as part of the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) Carrier Demonstration program.
Under a contract awarded in 2007 the company designed, produced and is now flight testing two X-47B aircraft.
The X-47B UCAS is designed to help the Navy explore the future of unmanned carrier aviation and aid development of a more permanent, carrier-based fleet of unmanned aircraft.
In 2013 these aircraft conducted the first carrier-based launches and recoveries by an autonomous, low-observable relevant unmanned aircraft in history.
Northrop Grumman began developing unmanned AAR technology for both Navy and Air Force applications nearly a decade ago, pioneering a hybrid approach that integrates both GPS and infrared imaging.
Initial UCAS-D flight testing began in 2012 using a manned Learjet aircraft as a surrogate for the X-47B to demonstrate the concept and refine navigation, command and control, and infrared sensor processing components.