X-47B First Catapult Launch at Sea

The X-47B completed it's first Catapult launch today. It was launched from the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier.






It did not return to trap.

The unmanned aircraft launched from the deck of George H.W. Bush at 11:18 a.m. It executed several planned low approaches to the carrier and safely transited across the Chesapeake Bay to land at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., after a 65-minute flight.

www.navy.mil...

More from the DEW Line

However, the X-47B did not carry out an arrested landing upon returning to Pax River. That could be because the unmanned jet was having difficulty making even that first trap it did the week before where the Navy showed off a video of the aircraft snagging a wire. Sources told the DEW Line, at the time of the earlier trap, the aircraft now had a 10 percent field boarding rate... So hopefully, this isn't an indication of a major problem. The X-47B guys have had to redesign their tail hook a number of times now due to the same inaccurate Navy-supplied wire dynamics model that was partly responsible for the F-35C's woes.

www.flightglobal.com...

See Z's thread for last week's trap.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I saw that UAV on the elevator on the bush before they pulled out. The thing really does look awesome. I wish we were still going on underways so i could see some of these take off.

It'll be an even better show if they can get it to trap in bad weather.


Hi-rez shot: