CoolPix: X-47B Tailless UCAS 'Gear Up' 2Fer!

(click pic for hi-res)  Northrop Grumman X-47B UCAS: first gear up flight September 2011

 The envelope is being opened up significantly in the Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) program. It's now wheels up and throttle forward to the cruise configuration of the autonomous unmanned aircraft that's eventually headed for the aircraft carrier. These two images were released a couple days ago showing the wheels up for the first time, so I've made them available as CoolPix images for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to click 'em to make 'em big! (feel free to say 'wow' when the pix open up big)

 So far, the X-47B is performing extremely well, tho the bar will be raised a mile or so when they start getting serious about those unmanned, autonomous carrier landing trials at some point down the road. However, I'm pretty confident that we'll see great success there too as the program has been performing very well.

(click pic for hi-res)   Awesome view of the clean underside of the X-47B UCAS

 Actually, the X-47B is beginning to resemble God's creation we call birds as it has no vertical tail, can fold its wings, and, it's under its own pre-programmed guidance. It's all quite impressive... but I honestly can't imagine a day when we'll build a flying machine that can approach a moving wire in full flight on a gusty, windy day and rapidly translate to vertical flight for a flawless VTOL landing on said moving wire. Birds do it every day without even thinking about it!

 We're good, but we aren't God : )