Computer-flown drone to test-land on carrier

LOS ANGELES — The Navy’s new bat-winged experimental drone has been delivered to an aircraft carrier to undergo handling tests aboard the ship.

The Navy said sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman took delivery of the drone Monday from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, where it had been undergoing tests.

Truman is the first aircraft carrier to conduct test operations for an unmanned aircraft.

The X-47B drone is designed to perform one of aviation’s most difficult ma- neuvers: landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot inthecockpit, butwithoutapilotat all.

The Navy has said it expects the X-47B to first land on a carrier by 2013.

With the drone’s ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computer, the X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare.

Currently, combat drones are controlled remotely by a pilot. The X-47B could carry out a combat mission controlled entirely by a computer. Ahuman pilot designs aflight pathandsendsiton its way, and a program guides it from a ship to target and back.

Two X-47Bs were built under a $635.8millioncontractawardedin2007 to Northrop GrummanCorp.

In February 2010, the first X-47B had its maiden flight from Edwards Air Force Base, where it continued testing until last December, when it was shipped to the Maryland air station.

The drone caused a stir on its crosscountry trip when people mistook the sleek robotic jet for a UFO.