Defence

The US Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to build and demonstrate the first carrier-based, unmanned, strike aircraft with the X-47B.

The roughly $635 million award gives Northrop the inside track on the only carrier-based warplane programme in development beyond the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

The Unmanned Combat Air System – Demonstrator (UCAS—D), is a six-year project that calls for proving carrier operations with the X-47B starting in 2011. The USN currently plans to make a decision after 2013 on a potential follow-on acquisition programme for a long-range strike fleet.

"This specific contract is for technology development and demonstration and will not be an operational system," said Navy Capt. Rich Brasel, program manager for NAVAIR’s technology demonstration effort. "But through it, we will develop knowledge, skills and technologies specific to operating an autonomous low-observable unmanned air vehicle in an aircraft carrier environment."

However, concerns remain that the USN may lose interest in the programme as resources for shipbuilding and other aviation accounts becomes scarce.

The victory gives Northrop a key victory over Boeing in the market for advanced unmanned aircraft.

Northrop has been developing the X-47 family of vehicles since the late 1990s, starting with the X-47A, which was originally called Pegasus.