A Navy X-47B unmanned combat air system has completed the first-ever arrested landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The milestone took place on the carrier George H.W. Bush July 10, during a training mission off the Virginia coast. It culminated a three-phase series of tests conducted at sea during the past eight months for the X-47B. The aircraft made the landing 35 minutes after taking off from Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. It approached the flight deck at 145 knots with its tailhook grasping the ship’s third arresting wire, and came to a stop in less than 350 feet. Flight crews then were able to launch the X-47B from the carrier using the catapult, and then execute another arrested landing on the flight deck. A third attempt was scrubbed when the aircraft’s computers detected something amiss in a navigation computer. The plane ultimately landed at Wallops Island Air Field in Maryland without incident. Navy officials marked the event as a milestone in naval aviation. "Across the entire spectrum of military operations, an integrated force of manned and unmanned platforms is the future. The X-47B’s autonomous arrested landing … shows how the Navy and Marine Corps are riding the bow wave of technological advances to create this 21st century force," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
