Navy Completes X-47B Carrier Tests, but UCLASS Concerns Remain

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony N. Hilkowski.

By Danielle Lucey



The U.S. Navy announced today that is has concluded its round of carrier tests of the X-47B on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. 



This round of tests, which began on 9 Nov., included deck handling, carrier approaches and landings in high winds, digitized ship interfaces, and a concept of operations development. The aircraft performed 26 touchdowns, 21 touch-and-goes, five arrested landings, five catapults, and five commanded and two autonomous wave-offs. 



“The X-47 was tested in winds of higher magnitude and differing directions than seen in previous detachments,” says Program Manager for Unmanned Carrier Aviation Capt. Beau Duarte. “This resulted in more stimulus provided to the aircraft’s guidance and control algorithms and a more robust verification of its GPS auto-land capability.”



The Navy is operating X-47B through fiscal 2014 for more land and carrier-based testing. The testing of the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator is supposed to feed into the Navy’s requirements for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program, however there has been contention over whether that program will still focus on strike missions versus intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. 



In September, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces voiced its concerns to Secretary of the Navy Ray Maybus about the UCLASS acquisition strategy. The Government Accountability Office also raised concerns about the sustainable cost of the program and the amount of time between the request for design proposals and the time it awards the vehicle contract, which is eight months instead of the more traditional 12. GAO added in a September document that “the UCLASS system is heavily reliant on the successful development and delivery of other systems and software, which creates additional schedule risk.”



In June, the key performance parameters for the UCLASS program were leaked, asking for an operational range of 600 nautical miles at a maximum price of $150 million per orbit with the ability to carry 3,000 pounds in munitions. 



Open competition on UCLASS begins in 2014.