Boeing X-46
The Boeing X-46 is an experimental aircraft for testing unmanned combat aircraft (English: Naval Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle; UCAV-N) on aircraft carriers .
The project ran parallel to the United States Air Force project Boeing X-45 . In June 2000, two development contracts were awarded for the project. A contract went to Boeing for the X-46A, a modification of the Boeing X-45, which is adapted to the needs of the United States Navy ; the other contract went to Northrop Grumman for the development of the X-47A . Boeing did not release any details about the X-46, but the design and characteristics will be very similar to the X-45.
In April 2003, Air Force and Navy projects were merged with DARPA under the J-UCAV program and later renamed J-UCAS (Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems). For this, the now redundant X-46 program was terminated.
After that, the J-UCAS program was also terminated and the Navy-owned N-UCAS demonstrator program began in the summer of 2006. Boeing uses experience from the development of the X-46 for an X-45N as an N-UCAS demonstrator.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert Wall: Uncertainty engulfs Pentagon's Unmanned Aircraft plan. Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 13, 2002, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on February 21, 2009 .
- ^ Robert Hewson: Navy's UCAS program. Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 21, 2006, accessed February 21, 2009 .
- ↑ Amy Butler: Bids are in for US Navy's UCAS-D. Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 21, 2006, accessed February 21, 2009 .