Overview of research and development of X-47B UAV

Developed by Northrop Grumman, the X-47B has a flying wing configuration, bat-shaped wings and wings. It looks like the predecessor B-2 stealth bomber, but it is smaller. During the 29-minute flight test, the X-47B carrying the laser-guided bomb successfully reached the altitude of 1500 meters, and finally landed smoothly on the flight runway.

The X-47B project took three years and cost $636 million. Edwards Air Force Base will conduct more than 50 test flights; At the same time, the first flight of the second X-47B is also in full swing. Northrop Grumman recently announced that it will conduct the flight test of the X-47B aircraft carrier in 20 13.

The advent of the X-47B marks a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles: it is not only the first "tailless, jet unmanned aerial vehicle" in human history, but also the first stealth bomber that can take off from an aircraft carrier and fall back on its own.

So far, the so-called drones can't be completely out of the control of ground personnel. On the other hand, the X-47B can use a computer system to handle various instructions such as take-off, landing and aerial refueling. It can also automatically perform pre-programmed tasks without human intervention, fly at an altitude of more than 500 miles (about 800 kilometers) and a speed of 40,000 feet (about 1.2 million meters), and attack targets thousands of miles away while avoiding radar monitoring. Therefore, the X-47B can greatly break through the physical endurance limit of human pilots and increase the air stay time of American aircraft from 10 hour to about 30 hours.