J-UCAS contender "to go on a diet" to shed 5,900kg before next year's final configuration
Northrop Grumman is planning a 5,900kg (13,000lb) weight reduction on its X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator being developed for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) programme.
The X-47B, which is pitched to meet US Navy specifications for a carrier-launched UCAV ahead of US Air Force requirements, has a current design weight of 21,790kg.
Dr Michael Francis, J-UCAS programme director for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), says the X-47 "is getting ready to go on a diet". Francis also says DARPA is poised to select a preferred independent systems integrator/broker for the J-UCAS common operating system in the next few weeks.
He told the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Unmanned, Unlimited conference in Chicago on 21 September that the X-47B is a "large, large fighter-bomber that is at the edge of where we would like it to be as far as moving on and off a ship is concerned, but it does have a lot of versatility and it is a very solid design".
Francis says that the Northrop Grumman vehicle and its rival Boeing X-45C have increased in size and weight over the course of the J-UCAS programme. This reflects programme requirements for "persistence, the need for long range and the need for a bigger payload". The X-45C has a projected design weight of 17,250kg.
Rick Ludwig, Northrop Grumman's X-47B programme director, says the company is aiming for a final air vehicle weight of 15,890kg for the baseline operational configuration. This would support growth potential back up to 20,430kg for an air vehicle fully fitted out for extended-range strike operations.
The current weight reflects preliminary design, Ludwig says, with Northrop Grumman still eight to 10 months from final configuration. Construction of the first demonstrator is not planned to start until mid-2005.
Northrop Grumman signed a $1.04 billion contract with DARPA last month to supply three pre-production standard air vehicles for operational evaluation by the US Air Force and Navy between 2007 and 2009.
Francis says Boeing is in an advanced stage of negotiations with a contract expected to be signed "within days".
PETER LA FRANCHI / CHICAGO
Source: Flight International
