My colleague Rob Coppinger (see Hyperbola) attended last week's AUVSI North America show in San Diego, and kindly forwarded me these pictures. The slides show the USN's strategy on the only recently emerging F/A-XX competition, which appears to pit the Northrop Grumman X-47 against a future aircraft vaguely resembling a blend between the Lockheed Martin F-35 and Boeing's old X-32 contender. Click on image to view larger photo.
That first slide is interesting. I don't see how a manned and unmanned from the same design would have equal range. A lot of weight is taken up for the pilot, life support and cockpit appliances that would translated into lost fuel carry.
This strikes me as a pipe dream. Sure, they have to do studies, but does anybody actually believe the money is going to be there? The USN has a shipbilding train wreck coming over the horizon and the F-35B/C (and possibly UCAS) to pay for.