The foray of the U.S. Navy into the land of Unmanned Combat Aerial Systems has been highlighted by milestone achievements, with the Northrop Grumman X-47B being the most ambitious development thus far. Officially retired in April 2015, X-47B, with the call signs Salty Dog 501 and Salty Dog 502, racked up a list of firsts in autonomous aviation. Among these were the first carrier landing and midair refueling, which set the stage for the X-47B as a cultural icon for future military drone tech.
These trace back to the DARPA and the U.S. origins of the X-47B. In August 1997, the Air Force began development of the Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle, with a focus on a more survivable platform for heavily contested airspaces, with the ability to host a variety of missions, such as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. That produced the Boeing X-45A, which first flew in 2002, becoming, in testing, the first drone to autonomously fire a weapon.
Running parallel to this, in 2000 the United States Navy initiated its program for a carrier-based reconnaissance and attack technology demonstrator called UCAV-N. The Navy’s requirements called for a drone that could heft a 4,000-pound payload, loiter for up to twelve hours, and operate within a radius of 650 nautical miles; most importantly, it had to be capable of launching from and recovering to an aircraft carrier. It was Northrop Grumman’s ambitious approach that resulted in the construction of the X-47B following up on the successful proof-of-concept flight by the X-47A in April 2003.
By December 2002, the Air Force and Navy programs were being consolidated by DARPA under the Joint Unmanned Combat Aerial System (J-UCAS) office. However, early in 2006, the Air Force’s interest in UCAVs began to wane, and the Navy decided to press on with the development of the X-47B, nixed from the NUCAS program. In August 2007, Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract to build two air vehicles in the configuration of the X-47B; by 2015, the development cost would spike up to nearly $1.5 billion.
In 2011, the X-47B began its flight tests and could perform the full range of shipboard and noncombat aerial operations: deck handling, launch, recovery, integration into manned aircraft operations, and in-air refueling. The landing of Salty Dog 502 autonomously aboard the USS George H.W. Bush on July 10, 2013, was marked as a historic moment for military drone technology. However, the program included no tests on weapons and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, so doubts remain over the survivability of UCAVs in contested environments and which missions the technologies are best suited to.
Beyond the X-47B, the Navy moved with the initiation of the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program in 2011 to develop a fleet of fully autonomous ISR and strike aircraft for carrier air groups. Of this, the UCLASS concept promised to take all the risk out of aircrew and low-observable design in the mix. The broad spectrum of missions under contemplation was vast enough to bring similar problems to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program with associated costs and developmental risks.
Not somewhere in recent years, and the U.S. Navy didn’t stop right there in continuing the pursuit of UCAVs. According to a former chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert said in a Sea Air Space 2021 virtual prequel that they would get the MQ-25A “Stingray” tanker integrated by 2023. Plans already have the Navy looking to extend abilities with the MQ-25A and testing the aircraft for ISR and strike missions. The Navy needs to aggressively pursue the integration of the MQ-25A into the carrier air wing and define its full capabilities,” said Admiral Greenert.
In the future, range, speed, stealth, payload, autonomy, and combat power will be the criteria by which UCAVs are chosen for the Navy. From this point of view, the naval UCAV of the future will no doubt change fleet tactics and strategies, not to mention the makeup of the air wing. This could make room for newer ideas, such as the Drone Carrier Warship and Distributed Maritime Operations.
The legacy of the X-47B and its successors will continue to shape the future of naval aviation, providing the impetus for new development in unmanned systems and changing the face of carrier air wings.