X-47 made 1st carrier launch

[Mike OTDP]

And the video is on YouTube already.

[skb12172]

Never happened without video. Link?

[randy]

You Tube Video

[Kommander]

Now we just need drone carriers to carry the things.

[Aesop]

Semi-cool.

But until it launches and recovers on the same deck, at night, it's just a (very promising but expensive) toy.

But screw an unmanned carrier.
I want a flying invisible carrier.

[mekender]

But until it launches and recovers on the same deck, at night, it's just a (very promising but expensive) toy.

A toy that can be REALLY useful... Stealth strikes from the sea, landing zones on land... Not all that different from some of the most daring air raids in history.

[Aesop]

Only if you have landing sites on land nearby.

Maybe you've noticed, but a lot of other countries don't like us.

They have a name for something you launch without a pilot and don't get back until it's replaced much later.
It's called a cruise missle, and we've had them since the 1940s.
They have some utility, but not that much, and it hasn't changed the face of all warfare to any appreciable degree.
We flew piloted drones over North Vietnam throughtout that conflict, and it was a curiousity more than anything else.
Thus the X-47 is an evolution, not a revolution.

The Navy video seemed clear that it took more deck crew, rather than less, to get the thing qeued up for launch. I'm willing to conceed that'll settle down once they get more familiar with the handling.
The main utilty is that they're smaller, so you can carry more X-47s than F-18s on the same sized carrier, and if/when it goes tits up, you don't give the bad guys a hostage to flash on cable news, or need to organize a 200-man operation to get him out of a prison somewhere in some Third World trashcanistan.
And being pilot-free, their aerobatics surpass the capabilities of opposing AFs with manned craft.

That's convenient, but it doesn't yet even rise to the level of sharks with frickin laser beams on their heads, let alone become the incredible future.
It may in time, but the rule of warfare is anything we can do, they can do too, so the game goes on, unless we reach deployment before whoever "they" are do, and we have a war right at that opportune moment.

That plan is like expecting that you'll invent an invisibility suit the exact day you take it to the quickie mart to snatch the winning powerball ticket out of someone's hand.

It's still a cool toy, but even when it reaches IOC, it's just another toy in the box.

And you'll note they didn't post any videos of the 53 times they tried to launch one, and ripped the front gear off, or the engines failed and they dropped it all over the range downfield, or the batteries fell out of the hand controller, or the controller ran himself over with it, etc. etc.

[Steamforger]

The drone is shorter than the Hornet by almost half, but wingspan is bigger by about 20'.

X-47B has half the top speed, but has almost 2x the range of a clean bug. Max take off weight of the drone is about 2/3 of the Bug. Payload is about 1/4. It will be interesting to see a fly away $ comparison between the two once production of the drone starts in earnest.

My only real question is will naval aviators still be wearing flight suits every-got-danged-where if they stop actually, you know, sitting in aircraft???

[Aesop]

Personally, I think they're fools for not adopting shorts, flipflops, Hawaiian shirts, and straw beach hats as their official uniform. Recuitment would surpass "Top Gun" days.

They should also base the units in satellite-linked trailers at Kaneohe Bay, Ja Jolla, and P-cola.

The bigger question is, if you're going to make flying just a video game, why do you need officers with college doiplomas, instead of nerdy kids who squeaked by high school?
Hire the geeks, make them shake-and-bake WOs like the Army does, and let the officers drive the ships and other such responsible activities.

[First Shirt]

Personally, I think they're fools for not adopting shorts, flipflops, Hawaiian shirts, and straw beach hats as their official uniform. Recuitment would surpass "Top Gun" days.

They should also base the units in satellite-linked trailers at Kaneohe Bay, Ja Jolla, and P-cola.

The bigger question is, if you're going to make flying just a video game, why do you need officers with college doiplomas, instead of nerdy kids who squeaked by high school?
Hire the geeks, make them shake-and-bake WOs like the Army does, and let the officers drive the ships and other such responsible activities.

See, that would mean that the Air Force would have to admit that it made a mistake in getting rid of the WO program, and getting the Air Force to admit to a mistake is like finding teeth in a chicken.

90% of the "officer" billets in the Air Force could be filled by a Tech/Master/Senior/Chief who got bumped up to WO, and got through a 90-day "don't piss in the potted plants" course at Maxwell (or Lackland, for that matter).