Noah Shachtman
Security

Uh Oh... Killer Drone "Structurally Complete"

The Navy’s killer drone program is picking up steam. The unmanned combat air systems demonstrator, or UCAS-D, is now “100% structurally complete,” according to its manufacturers at Northrop Grumman. Testing of the flight software in underway. Now it’s on “subsystems installation,” “failure detection,” “accommodation testing”… oh, and paint, too. Northrop is aiming towards have the […]
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Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company - PalmdaleJ-UCAS Joint Unmanned Combat Aerial Systemmounted on the pole at Pit 3 in Helendale, CA on September 12, 2005 Red light.Photo by Denny Lombard

The Navy's killer drone program is picking up steam. The unmanned combat air systems demonstrator, or UCAS-D, is now "100% structurally complete," according to its manufacturers at Northrop Grumman. Testing of the flight software in underway. Now it's on "subsystems installation," "failure detection," "accommodation testing"... oh, and paint, too. Northrop is aiming towards have the first one completed in 2009.

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The Navy only decided to build UCAS-D a few months ago, as Lew Page notes. But Northrop engineers are working with the same design they were using for a Darpa /Air Force / Navy killer drone effort that was canceled.

"We're finishing a programme started seven years ago," a Northrop executive told Flight magazine. Lew adds:

The $635m UCAS-D contract will see Northrop produce a brace of aircraft and - if successful - prove that they can operate from US Navy carriers, traditionally considered one of the more demanding flight environments for human-piloted jets.

"The performance of the aircraft isn't an issue anymore," Rand Corp. analyst David
Ochmanek tells the L.A. Times. "The sole remaining issue that hasn't been addressed – because it is so difficult – is landing them and having them take off."

After the jump: some hot CGI action, showing how the UCAS-D might look in flight – and one the carrier deck.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dobrNcrdRxw

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